Happy Friday, readers! The week appears to be ending on a high note as more firms report their first-quarter earnings. Yesterday, Ares Management revealed that its assets under management surpassed the $200 billion mark with a quarterly earnings profit that stands in sharp contrast to the loss of the first quarter of 2020, our own Chris Cumming reports. Our colleagues at The Wall Street Journal report that Carlyle Group also posted an earnings comeback from a year ago, as many parts of the global economy continue to recover from the setbacks of last year. KKR & Co. will report its first-quarter earnings next week as will Apollo Global Management.

Also in today’s news, Preeti Singh reports that software-focused Resurgens Technology Partners is back on the marketing trail with its second fund and seeking up to $350 million.

Dive in for more details on these and other stories, and have a relaxing weekend!

Lower midmarket-focused Resurgens Technology Partners is targeting as much as $350 million for its second fund, Preeti Singh writes, citing people familiar with the new fundraising effort. If the Atlanta firm reaches its target, the fund would be 65% larger than its debut Resurgens Technology Partners LP fund. In January 2019, Resurgens said its first fund wrapped up with $212 million in total commitments.

Ares Management Corp. joined the $200 billion club after the strongest fundraising year in its history, led by the largest European direct-lending fund ever raised, Chris Cumming writes for WSJ Pro Private Equity. The Los Angeles firm’s assets under management stood at $207.2 billion at the end of the first quarter, an increase of 39% from the same period a year ago, the firm said on Thursday. Ares Chief Executive Michael Arougheti called passing the $200 billion mark a “major milestone,” noting that the firm surpassed $100 billion just four years earlier. Ares also said it has closed Ares Capital Europe V at €11 billion (about $13.34 billion). The firm said it is the largest European direct-lending fund ever raised.

Carlyle Group Inc. swung to a profit in the first quarter, as the value of its investments rose faster than the broader market, Maria Armental and Miriam Gottfried report for The Wall Street Journal. The Washington, D.C., firm reported a profit of $869.3 million, or $2.41 a share, compared with a loss of $612 million, or $1.76 a share, in the first quarter of 2020. The roughly $1.5 billion profit improvement, the firm said, reflected the portfolio appreciation from the onset of the coronavirus pandemic last year. Carlyle’s assets grew by 6% from the previous quarter to $260 billion.

Blackstone Group announced an investment in fiber-optic internet and telecommunications services provider Hotwire Communications Ltd. through the private-equity firm’s tactical opportunities and infrastructure funds. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Hotwire offers services that include internet, voice, high-definition and television as well as home automation products to residential and commercial customers across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Paxos, a cryptocurrency infrastructure platform, said it has raised a $300 million late-stage funding round that values the company at $2.4 billion. Oak HC/FT led the latest round with participation from prior investors that include Declaration Partners, PayPal Ventures, Mithril Capital, Senator Investment Group, Liberty City Ventures and WestCap, according to a press release. So far, the company has raised more than $500 million, the release stated.

Apollo Global Management Inc. has partnered with Silver Lake-backed Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. to invest in venture studio 25Madison LLC, a New York company started in 2018 that helps develop startups from their seed stages. The company said it has raised $60 million so far, including the new investments from Apollo and Endeavor.

San Francisco-based private-equity firm Salt Creek Capital said it has acquired OP/TECH USA Inc.,a Belgrade, Montana-based company that designs, manufactures and distributes products that include slings, straps, harnesses and other accessories used by musicians, photographers and warehouse workers, among others.

Silver Lake’s bid to acquire a 12.5% interest in New Zealand Rugby for 387.5 million New Zealand dollars (equivalent to about $280.9 million) moved forward late Thursday when the proposed investment won unanimous approval from the league’s 26 teams, Reuters reported. But the deal, which values the league at about $2.23 billion and includes the All Blacks brand, still needs to win approval from players, the news service said. The players’ union said in January that it would block the deal.

Concentric Equity Partners, a direct investment arm of family office and asset management firm Financial Investments Corporation, said it has recapitalized Plano, Texas-based Riverbend Sandler Pools, which provides  pool construction, service, maintenance and retail supplies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Tailwind Capital said in an emailed news release that it has merged three portfolio companies to create a national platform focused on safety products and services for infrastructure markets that include  water, electric and natural gas utilities and transportation. The three companies, National Trench Safety, Trench Plate Rental Company and Support of Excavation, will operate under the National Trench Safety brand, according to the release.

Industrial decarbonization investor Ara Partners is joining Aksiom Group in backing px Group, a U.K.-based provider of energy and infrastructure assets management services. Px Group also owns a 370-acre U.K. industrial complex called Saltend Chemicals Park. Ara is investing alongside px Group management and existing backer Aksiom.

Our add-on deal interactive tool allows you to sort and analyze volumes of add-on deal data compiled by WSJ Pro. View more.

Shares of private-equity backed Aveanna Healthcare Holdings Inc. edged lower in their trading debut Thursday after the home-care platform’s initial public offering was priced at the bottom of reduced expectations, Colin Kellaher reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Aveanna shares closed at $11.53 each on Thursday, down about 4%, after opening at $12. The Atlanta company controlled by private-equity firms Bain Capital and J.H. Whitney Capital Partners sold about 38.2 million shares at $12 apiece after previously cutting the expected price range to $12 to $13 from $16 to $18.

Silver Lake-backed Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. rose 5% in its first day of trading Thursday, giving the entertainment company a market value of about $10.8 billion, Kimberly Chin and Maureen Farrell write in The Wall Street Journal. Silver Lake planned to retain at least a 68% equity stake in the company following its initial public offering, a regulatory filing showed. Other investors in the company prior to the IPO included the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Coature Management and KKR & Co.

Africa focused private-equity firm Adenia Partners said it is selling its stake in Ademat, a provider of power security products, such as power devices, drive systems, voltage stabilizers and other electrical products and technology, to SPE Capital, a private-equity firm focused on Africa and the Middle East.

BlackRock Inc. has closed its BlackRock Private Equity Opportunities ELTIF fund with about €509 million (equivalent to about $616 million) in commitments, according to an emailed news release. The fund, offered through the New York firm’s BlackRock Private Equity Partners strategy, provides a way for qualified individual investors to participate in direct co-investments alongside private-equity funds. The 10-year vehicle qualifies as a European long-term investment fund and is the firm’s first such vehicle. New rules adopted in Europe permitted broader distribution of the ELTIF investment opportunity and BlackRock said it worked with 10 wealth managers to raise capital for the fund. The firm said 25 institutional investors also participated.

SBJ Capital, a lower midmarket private-equity firm focused on consumer, business and healthcare services companies, is seeking $200 million for SBJ Fund II LP, a regulatory filing indicates. SBJ typically invests $10 million to $50 million of equity in companies with up to $100 million of revenue and $3 million to $15 million of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to the firm’s website.

Luminus Management LLC, a hedge fund that invests in the energy and power sectors, has sold almost all the assets in its largest fund to return money to investors, The Journal’s Joe Wallace reports. New York-based Luminus began to unwind holdings in its Energy Partners fund about a year ago, when the Covid-19 pandemic triggered market turmoil and prompted investors to withdraw their money, according to people familiar with the matter. The total value the firm manages has fallen to $1.15 billion, from about $2.1 billion in March 2020, one of the people said.

MidCap Financial, a private-credit provider overseen by a unit of Apollo Global Management Inc., has raised $875 million by selling bonds and plans to use the capital to refinance its debt, according to a news release. MidCap serviced more than $29.8 billion of commitments as of the end of last year.

Tikehau Capital’s first special-purpose acquisition company, Pegasus Europe, raised €500 million (equivalent to about $606.1 million) through a private placement, the Paris-based company said, noting that the SPAC’s shares began trading on the  Euronext Amsterdam exchange on Thursday. The SPAC’s other co-sponsors are Financière Agache, Jean Pierre Mustier and Diego De Giorgi, Tikehau said. The blank-check company aims to acquire and bring public a financial services business.

GCM Grosvenor Inc. has reached a goal of adding $2 billion in allocations to women and minority investment managers a year earlier than it had targeted in June 2019. The Chicago firm laid out its intentions to increase the amount allocated almost two years ago, and so far has committed about $8 billion to diverse fund managers. Funds involved in the recent increase were spread across 190 investments in strategies that include private equity, infrastructure, real estate, credit and hedge funds.

Energy-focused private-equity firm JOG Capital said it would rebrand as Carbon Infrastructure Partners and hone its investment strategy to focus on companies that contribute to the reduction of carbon and CO2 emissions.

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Ted Bunker; Laura Cooper; Chris Cumming; Luis Garcia; Laura Kreutzer; Preeti Singh; Chitra Vemuri.

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