Good morning. Morgan Stanley-backed battery maker Corvus Energy is helping North America's two largest ferry operators shift to hybrid power, reports Luis Garcia.

Growth firm Oak HC/FT raised a new fund focused on artificial intelligence in healthcare and financial technology, Brian Gormley reports.

Now on to the news...

Norwegian ship-battery maker Corvus Energy, backed by investment bank Morgan Stanley's investment-management arm, is helping North America’s biggest ferry operators shift to hybrid-powered vessels, Luis Garcia reports for WSJ Pro. Corvus will supply energy-storage systems for two new ships, and potentially a third one, that Washington State Ferries plans to add to its fleet within the next five years. Corvus batteries will also power new hybrid vessels operated by BC Ferries in British Columbia, Canada, four of which are under construction.

Growth investor Oak HC/FT raised just under $2 billion for a new fund with a significant focus on artificial intelligence in healthcare and financial technology, Brian Gormley writes for WSJ Pro. Oak’s new vehicle is roughly the same size as its predecessor, which closed at $1.94 billion in 2022. Oak plans to increase its investments in early-stage companies with this pool as valuations rise quickly for promising AI startups as they mature, said co-founder and Managing Partner Annie Lamont.

Monomoy Capital Partners in Greenwich, Conn., has agreed to acquire Jiffy Lube International from a subsidiary of Shell USA for around $1.3 billion, Josh Beckerman reports for The Wall Street Journal. Monomoy is backing the auto servicing franchisor from its Monomoy Capital Partners V fund, which closed with $2.25 billion in 2024. Jiffy Lube now serves approximately 19 million customers annually through more than 2,000 service centers across North America.

The Korea Climate & Governance Improvement Fund, an asset manager in Seoul, is backing a deal to give autonomous military drone developer Powerus a public listing, Heather Somerville reports for the Journal. The new drone company is also backed by President Trump's sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. Powerus, a drone roll-up company based in West Palm Beach, Fla., is merging with a publicly traded golf-course holding company backed by the Trumps, Powerus executives said. The Korea fund has pledged to invest $50 million.

Consumer-focused firm L Catterton is acquiring and merging Brazilian beauty companies Bel Cosméticos and Mundo do Cabeleireiro to create a multibrand specialty retailer with over 130 stores in Brazil. The deal represents a full exit for Vinci Compass Investments' NEIII Fund, which backed Mundo.

Warburg Pincus in New York is offering to acquire German financial services company Netfonds for €78.25 a share, or 64% more than its closing price Friday. The buyout firm already has locked up about 53% of the shares through agreements, including with senior company managers. The deal gives the company an equity value of about €182.3 million, or roughly $211.8 million.

Fidelity Investments, Future Standard and Hamilton Lane are backing Corastone, which offers digital infrastructure to support processing of investments and fund commitments for fund general partners and administrators, as well as wealth advisers.

Specialist investor Ridgewood Infrastructure in New York is taking a control stake in Sierra Railroad, a California-based shortline railroad operator. Concurrent with the deal, Sierra is buying Central Valley Ag Transport, a company that owns and runs agricultural transload facilities on Sierra’s rail network.

Healthcare and technology-enabled services investor FFL Partners has formed a new business called Pioneer HOA to house existing and future investments in homeowner’s association management companies. The business was formed with the acquisition of an unnamed Western-focused full-service HOA property-management operation. 

Soleus Capital Management in Greenwich, Conn., is backing German clinical stage biotechnology company Heidelberg Pharma with as much as $45 million in financing, including $20 million up front and $25 million later. The financing is tied to certain royalties from an imaging diagnostic agent. The firm is investing through its Soleus Capital Credit Opportunities Fund I.

The infrastructure investment strategy of Swedish buyout firm EQT has agreed to acquire a 42% stake in Kelda Holdings, the parent company of Yorkshire Water, which provides water and wastewater services to around 5.5 million customers in the Yorkshire region of the U.K.

Investment firms Aker ASA in Norway and 8090 Industries in New York led a $2 billion growth investment in U.K. artificial-intelligence infrastructure developer Nscale, investing at a $14.6 billion valuation. Other participants in the deal included Astra Capital Management, Linden Advisors and Point72 Asset Management. The company develops data-center computing systems, networks and related software in locations across Europe, North America and Asia.

Altamont Capital Partners has backed Key Container, a Pawtucket, R.I.-based maker of corrugated cardboard packaging.

Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners is leading a roughly $85 million private investment in public equity issued by Korro Bio, a biopharmaceutical company that is developing a new class of genetic medicines based on editing RNA for rare and common diseases. Other investors in the transaction include ADAR1 Capital Management, Affinity Asset Advisors, Balyasny Asset Management, Driehaus Capital Management, Kalehua Capital, Lynx1 Capital Management, Nantahala Capital and New Enterprise Associates.

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

Multi-strategy investor Kedge Capital-backed Madison Air Solutions in Chicago has registered for an initial public offering of shares, without saying how many it plans to sell or for what expected price range. The supplier of commercial and residential climate control and air quality systems generated net sales of about $3.3 billion last year and net income of $124.3 million, the filing shows. The business was started by Madison Industries founder Larry Gies and he is still expected to control the company following the IPO. Kedge, a U.K. firm that manages private-equity and hedge funds, is listed as owning 5% or more of Madison's shares.

Siris Capital Group in West Palm Beach, Fla., is acquiring a majority stake in renewable energy industry services provider Takkion from Apollo Global Management in New York. The Centennial, Colo.-based company generated revenue of about $600 million last year. Apollo has backed the company since at least 2020.

Main Post Partners agreed to sell its stake in DeMert Brands, parent company of hair-care brand Not Your Mother’s, to strategic buyer Henkel. Main Post initially backed the company in 2019 alongside the company's founders and management.

Tetragon Partners has exited its remaining equity stake in BentallGreenOaks, a real-estate investment firm, selling its 7.7% interest to BGO parent Sun Life Financial in Toronto. Tetragon valued the stake at about $325.1 million at the end of last year, and cited a $54.8 million gain in its 2025 annual report last week. The listed firm has retained interests in BGO funds and related assets, but sold some rights tied to the firm to Sun Life in February for $155 million. Tetragon first invested in BGO's predecessor about 16 years ago.

The State of Michigan Retirement Systems has sold Simpson Property Group in Denver to investment adviser Domain Capital Group in Atlanta, which has overseen Simpson operations on behalf of the public pension since 2008. Simpson provides commercial and multifamily property development and management services.

Excellere Partners and GHO Capital Partners are among the firms selling stakes in clinical pathology company Biocare Medical to strategic buyer Agilent Technologies, which is acquiring the business in an all-cash deal valued at about $950 million. Biocare generated revenue of over $90 million last year.

Multistrategy investor J.F. Lehman & Co. aims to raise $2.75 billion for JFL Equity Investors VII, according to public documents prepared for the Connecticut State Treasurer’s Investment Advisory Council, which advises on investing from the state’s pension funds. The council is considering an up to $300 million commitment to the fund, which has a $3.25 billion hard cap, the documents show. The firm invests from the fund in midmarket companies across sectors such as aerospace and defense, according to the documents. The firm's fundraising target for the new pool is modestly higher than the $2.23 billion that it collected for a predecessor, which closed in 2024, along with related parallel vehicles.

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners seeks $1.7 billion for LLCP Lower Middle Market Fund IV, according to public documents prepared for the Connecticut State Treasurer’s Investment Advisory Council. The council is weighing a commitment of up to $200 million to the fund, which invests in lower midmarket companies in sectors such as business services and education, the documents show. Los Angeles-based Levine Leichtman closed a predecessor vehicle with $1.38 billion in 2021.

German private-equity investor Mutares has opened an office in Tokyo, joining a raft of private-equity firms that are beefing up their presence in Japan, and hired Yuki Nagase to lead the effort, sister publication Private Equity News reports from London. Nagase was formerly a managing director at Japan-based Crosspoint Advisors.

The U.S. Senate is aiming to require large single-family home investors to sell their newly built units to individuals within seven years of completion, Rebecca Picciotto reports for the Journal. Investors and builders were blindsided by the move and say it would effectively dismantle the single-family rental business for large companies and real-estate investment trusts, and lead to higher housing costs. A vote on the measure is expected as soon as this week.

StepStone Group's directors have authorized a stock buyback totaling $100 million of Class A shares. The New York firm can use open-market as well as privately negotiated deals to acquire the Nasdaq-listed shares. StepStone closed little changed at $45.25 a share Monday, before the buyback was announced. The shares are down over 29% so far this year, however, and have been trading near a two-year low.

Buyout firm KKR & Co. in New York and U.K. lender Puma Property Finance have formed a joint venture to supply up to £500 million, or $670.9 million, in loans to support development and ownership of residential estates, including rental units and student accommodations. The partners expect to lend £20 million to £75 million per deal under the three-year venture agreement.

Private-equity practices have undermined healthcare and led to hospital and clinic shutdowns, particularly in rural and low-income areas, according to a study from the New York University Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. The report documents the buyout industry's debt-heavy strategies that have left healthcare businesses understaffed and financially fragile, with higher death rates in hospitals and nursing homes, according to an emailed news release.

Music rights as an asset class has hit its stride, with more than three-quarters of participants in a survey of 125 investment professionals saying they expect to see more capital allocated to the asset class in the years ahead, according to an emailed news release. The survey by Fourth Pillar, a communications adviser to the industry, showed that about half the respondents expect to see the average deal size increase from $87 million currently.

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Maria Armental; Ted Bunker; Chris Cumming; Luis Garcia; Laura Kreutzer; Isaac Taylor; Chitra Vemuri.