S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of global private equity news stories and more published throughout the week.
Sweden-headquartered buyout house EQT AB (publ) has taken a significant step to ramp up Asia operations by agreeing to acquire Baring Private Equity Asia.
The transaction brings €17.7 billion of assets under management to EQT, adding to the firm's €73 billion in current AUM. EQT, which is publicly listed, will pay €6.8 billion, consisting of new shares and €1.5 billion in cash.
BPEA will become BPEA EQT Asia after it merges with EQT's existing Asia-Pacific private equity team, which has about 300 investors. Approximately 115 of them are not invested in EQT products, CEO Christian Sinding said on an analyst call following the announcement.
Barings is out fundraising for its latest flagship fund, Baring Private Equity Asia Fund VIII. The vehicle is targeting $8.5 billion and held a first close in September. EQT is also out raising its latest flagship private equity fund, EQT X, targeting €20 billion.
BPEA is EQT's third acquisition since it listed in 2019. It bought both U.S.-based real estate investor Exeter Property Group, now EQT Exeter, and European life science venture capital firm LSP, now EQT Life Sciences, in 2021. EQT Exeter also acquired Japan and Korea-headquartered logistics manager Bear Logi in January. EQT does not expect to make any further large acquisitions in the near future, Sinding said on the call.
CHART OF THE WEEK: CPPIB leads pension plan pack into PE
⮞ Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has been the most active limited partner among pension plan peers.
⮞ In total, CPPIB is invested in 311 funds representing roughly US$73 billion in total commitments, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. Private equity buyout vehicles account for 267 of those funds or about US$70.2 billion in allocated capital.
⮞ Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's US$600 million investment in a 2018 series C funding round for Ant Group Co. Ltd. was one of the largest transactions.
FUNDRAISING AND DEALS
* Advent International Corp. took a majority stake in Swedish pay solutions provider Medius AB with Marlin Equity Partners LLC remaining as majority shareholder.
* KKR & Co. Inc. raised $17 billion for the KKR Global Infrastructure Investors IV fund at final close. The vehicle will seek global infrastructure investment opportunities in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries in North America and Western Europe.
* Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC has initiated discussions with investors about its next buyout fund with an initial target of at least $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the fundraising efforts.
ELSEWHERE IN THE INDUSTRY
* TA Associates also agreed to provide a significant growth investment to application security solutions provider Veracode Inc. The transaction is set to be finalized in the second quarter.
* Serent Capital Management Co. LLC secured $1.1 billion in capital commitments for the Serent Capital Fund V, which will pursue investments in business-to-business software companies.
* Sycamore Partners Management LP and Canadian department store chain Hudson's Bay Co. are looking to make buyout offers for Kohl's Corp., which could fetch more than $9 billion, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
FOCUS ON: APPLICATION SOFTWARE
* Vista Equity Partners, alongside L Catterton, led a more than $250 million strategic investment in cloud parking software company Flash.
* An investor group composed of Capital D Management LLP, Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital-managed investment funds, and a group formed by Keyhaven Capital Partners Ltd. and family offices purchased a 64% majority interest in London-based software-as-a-service company Phrasee Ltd.