Good day. The Blue Origin blast-off with the world’s richest person aboard brings to mind the kind of thrill-seeking that might be expected in a youngster rather than someone who clocks in at 57. The guessing here is that watching the value of their invetsments bounce around is more than enough excitement for many people that age. But then it’s often said that you’re only as old as you feel...

In the world of private equity, we have plenty of excitement to share. Our Chris Cumming reports that infrastructure funds proved their mettle during the pandemic and have bounced back, collecting 88% more in capital during the second quarter than they did in the year-earlier period. Also, Maria Armental writes that Bain Capital bought a provider of replacement parts for medical devices at a $1.25 billion valuation, and our Preeti Singh offers an inside look at how a $31.46 billion New Jersey pension is setting up to invest on its own.

Finally, our Journal colleague Rebecca Davis O’Brien has a story looking at charges brought against Donald Trump ally Tom Barrack. The Colony Capital founder is denying the allegations. We have those stories and much more awaiting you below, so please jump in ... 

Investors are pouring money into infrastructure funds, which are on the rebound after proving their resiliency during last year’s pandemic-related downturn, Chris Cumming reports for WSJ Pro Private Equity. In the first six months of 2021, $51.8 billion was raised globally for infrastructure deals, $31.8 billion of that in the second quarter, according to London-based data provider Preqin Ltd. The total amount raised roughly matched the first half of last year, but the 2021 second-quarter sum is about 88% higher than the same period a year earlier.

The Police and Firemen’s Retirement System of New Jersey, whose assets account for nearly one-third of the $90.65 billion managed by the state’s Division of Investment, is preparing to begin operations in the next six months as an independent investor, Preeti Singh reports for WSJ Pro Private Equity, citing Ed Donnelly, the chairman of the retirement system’s board of trustees. Managers of the $31.46 billion Police and Firemen’s pension expect the transfer of control over its assets to be completed by year-end or so and have been putting together regulations, ethics and investment rules that will apply to its operations, as well as educating its 12-member board.

Colony Capital Inc. founder Tom Barrack, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, was arrested Tuesday in Los Angeles on charges that he acted as a foreign agent of the United Arab Emirates and lied to federal investigators, Rebecca Davis O’Brien writes for The Wall Street Journal. A seven-count indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn, alleges that Mr. Barrack, along with a former employee and an Emirati businessman, acted at the direction of senior Emirati officials to influence Mr. Trump’s policy positions and to influence public opinion in favor of U.A.E. interests. A representative for Mr. Barrack said he would enter a not guilty plea to the charges.

Bain Capital is buying medical-equipment parts and services company PartsSource Inc. from private-equity firm Great Hill Partners in a deal that values the company at about $1.25 billion, Maria Armental reports for WSJ Pro Private Equity, citing people familiar with the matter. PartsSource’s website connects customers, such as hospitals and medical clinics, with vendors and repair professionals to find replacement equipment, parts and services. PartsSource’s cloud-based software helps clients locate and acquire needed components, automating the medical-equipment supply chain.

Since 2015, WSJ Pro and our sister publication The Private Equity Analyst have published our annual Women to Watch list in recognition of the outstanding achievements of female dealmakers, fundraising professionals and limited partners across the private-equity and venture capital industries. We are accepting nominations for this year’s list until Aug. 13. Please click on the link below to submit your nomination! We will announce this year’s list in early October.

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Cryptocurrency exchange FTX has raised money at an $18 billion valuation, a deal that shows investors’ enthusiasm for digital currencies even after a crash that erased half of bitcoin’s value over the past three months, Alexander Osipovich writes for The Wall Street Journal. The latest investment, of $900 million, included SoftBank Group Corp., Sequoia Capital and hedge-fund Third Point, as well as technology specialist Thoma Bravo. The transaction vaulted FTX into the ranks of the world’s highest-valued crypto companies.

General Atlantic is leading a €100 million investment in spending-management software supplier Spendesk Inc., joined by existing investors Index Ventures and Eight Roads Ventures in the Series C round, according to an emailed news release. The Paris-based company’s programs are used by businesses to manage expenses, including employee reimbursements, project financing and budgeting.

Gauge Capital is backing cybersecurity training company Ninjio LLC through a recapitalization. Based in Southlake, Texas, Gauge Capital manages about $2 billion. Westlake Village, Calif.-based Ninjio makes videos that help companies train employees on cybersecurity.

Carlyle Group Inc. has acquired commercial broadcast live-streaming company LiveU Inc. from Francisco Partners. Formed in 2006 and based in Hackensack, N.J., LiveU operates a live-video transmission platform. Carlyle invested from Carlyle Europe Technology Partners IV, which invests in midmarket tech companies in the U.S. and Europe.

Fortress Investment Group LLC appears to have vanquished rival bidders for U.K. grocer Wm. Morrison Supermarkets PLC, as Apollo Global Management Inc. said it is in talks with the SoftBank Group Corp.-backed private-equity firm to join with it in buying the company and ruled out making a rival offer, Adria Calatayud reports for Dow Jones Newswires. A Fortress-led group has agreed to acquire Morrisons for £2.54 a share, or about £6.3 billion, which is equivalent to roughly $8.62 billion. The Fortress group includes the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and the real-estate arm of Koch Industries, a private conglomerate headed by billionaire Charles Koch.

General Atlantic led a $235 million investment in game publisher Tilting Point Media LLC, which is the company’s first-ever institutional financing. Tilting Point will use the money to accelerate its acquisition strategy.

​​Integrity Growth Partners has made a minority investment in managed-care software maker ScalePad Software Inc., becoming the first private investor in the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company. It is the first outside capital ScalePad has raised since its founding six years ago. Based in Los Angeles, Integrity Growth invests in lower midmarket software and tech-enabled services companies.

Leeds Equity Partners has invested in education and mental health services provider eLuma LLC, according to an emailed news release. The Lehi, Utah-based company provides live services to special needs students in kindergarten through high school grades.

Partners Group Holding AG is joining with developer and management company Proudreed to invest in industrial properties in France with a plan to eventually own more than €500 million, equivalent to about $589.1 million, worth of warehouses and factory buildings. The Swiss private-equity firm said the venture is being seeded with €120 million worth of properties in the Paris, Nice and Bordeaux areas. Partners Group said the venture is its third drive into European property through a real estate strategy with about $17 billion in assets under management.

Clearlake Capital Group has agreed to buy baked goods supplier BakeMark USA LLC from Pamplona Capital Management. The Pico Rivera, Calif.-based company serves about 1,200 food suppliers and about 19,000 customers, including retail and in-store bakeries, wholesale goods suppliers and foodservice operators in the U.S. and Canada.

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Brand Velocity Partners-backed grill supplier BBQ Holding LLC, which operates as BBQGuys, has agreed to combine with a blank-check company in a deal that gives the Baton Rouge, La.-based business an enterprise value of about $839 million, or roughly six times the $140 million the private-equity firm and its syndicate of investors paid for the company last year, according to a spokesman. The special-purpose acquisition company involved is Velocity Acquisition Corp., which raised about $230 million through an initial public offering of shares in February. Brand Velocity and investors including former National Football League star quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Eli Manning and other members of the brothers’ family, are rolling 100% of their equity into the newly public business.

Vista Equity Partners-backed Cvent Inc. has agreed to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company in a deal that would take the event-management software company public, Miriam Gottfried reports for The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. Cvent is slated to merge with Dragoneer Growth Opportunities Corp. II in a transaction that values the business at more than $5 billion, including debt, the people said. Vista took the company private in 2016 in a $1.65 billion deal.

A True Wind Capital-linked special-purpose acquisition company has raised $150 million to acquire a private company and bring it public. The SPAC, Bilander Acquisition Corp., is led by True Wind’s Scott Wagner, who heads strategic capital for the private-equity firm, and one of True Wind’s founding partners, James H. Greene Jr.

Pendyne Capital-backed Stryve Foods LLC has combined with blank-check company Andina Acquisition Corp. III and is expected to begin trading Wednesday on the Nasdaq stock market under the SNAX ticker, according to a news release. The Plano, Texas-based company specializes in healthy snack foods, including air-dried meats.

Keensight Capital is selling its stake in mobile robotics manufacturer ASTI Mobile Robotics SAU to strategic buyer ABB Ltd.’s robotics division, according to an emailed news release. ASTI makes autonomous box movers, towing vehicles and unit carriers, among other products, as well as related software from operations in France, Spain and Germany. Keensight initially backed the company in 2019 and is selling alongside Verónica Pascual Boé, ASTI’s owner and chief executive.

Align Capital Partners has sold environmental testing and compliance business Alliance Technical Group to Morgan Stanley’s capital partners midmarket private-equity arm. Align first invested in the Decatur, Ala.-based business in 2016 and since then it has grown exponentially, with more than 750 employees today from fewer than 75.

Kohlberg & Co. has wrapped up its first continuation fund with about $1.1 billion supplied by investors led by BlackRock Inc., Singapore’s GIC and Lexington Partners. The fund will back the four remaining assets held in the Kohlberg Investors VII fund, which closed in 2012 with $1.6 billion. The continuation fund also will provide liquidity opportunities for investors in the original vehicle, according to a news release.

Angela Miller-May has been named chief investment officer at the $54 billion Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. Most recently she held a similar role at the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund.

Midmarket investor Star Mountain Capital has added Bob Shettle as a senior member of its investment team. He is a former leader of several Barings LLC private finance operations in North America. Barings is an investment management unit of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. and has more than $325 billion in assets under management.

Adams Street Partners in Chicago has hired Jennifer Brown as a partner and global head of consultant relations, according to an emailed news release. She was previously Barings LLC’s managing director of global business development.

AE Industrial Partners has brought on Melissa Klafter as a partner and chief financial officer. She joins from Sun Capital Partners, where she was a managing director and CFO.

Turnspire Capital Partners has hired Luis A. Mercader as director of operations and finance. He was previously a principal consultant with accounting and financial services provider Etonien LLC, according to an emailed news release.

Two of the biggest U.S. investment banks are throwing their weight behind Nasdaq Inc.’s market for private-company shares, which provides secondary investment and liquidity options for issuers, brokers, shareholders and prospective buyers, Alexander Osipovich reports for The Wall Street Journal. The group acquiring the Nasdaq Private Market includes investment banks Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, as well as Citigroup Inc. and SVB Financial Group. Nasdaq is contributing its technology and market operations expertise to the spinoff.

The U.S. Senate barreled toward a pair of Wednesday deadlines for advancing much of President Biden’s multitrillion-dollar economic agenda, with lawmakers bracing for a procedural vote on a still-forming $1 trillion infrastructure plan to fail if no bipartisan agreement is reached, Andrew Duehren and Kristina Peterson report for The Wall Street Journal. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) has set a vote for Wednesday to begin consideration of infrastructure legislation, a step that Republicans have said they would oppose absent more details on its contents and how it would be paid for.

A skirmish between national security and trade officials in the Biden administration is hindering efforts to forge a digital-services pact with Asian countries, Bob Davis writes for The Wall Street Journal, citing people involved in the talks. National Security Council and State Department officials want to set rules for digital trade in Asia, which could include cross-border flows of information, digital privacy and standards for the use of artificial intelligence in the region, the people said. While open to U.S. allies, the pact would exclude China, mirroring the approach the administration has taken on issues such as export controls on advanced technology to limit China’s influence.

Brazil saw 63 venture-capital investments during this year’s first quarter, up 54% from the year-earlier period as the Brazilian economy’s recovery spurs dealmaking, according to a report by advisory firm Duff & Phelps. Those investments totaled 8.8 billion Brazilian reais ($1.69 billion), more than half the 14.6 billion reais recorded in all of last year. Brazilian startups continue attracting investments. Nubank, for one, raised $750 million in June, including $500 million from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., in deals that valued the digital-bank operator at $30 billion.

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