S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of global private equity news stories and more published throughout the week.
Just a few months into 2022, it was clear private equity's accelerating pace of fundraising was exhausting investors. It seems fund managers took the hint.
The global private equity market launched just 481 funds in 2022, less than one-third of the 1,464 funds that set sail in 2021, a year of record private equity performance. Fund launches in 2022 were also well below the marks set in 2020 and 2019.
A pullback made sense. Tanking public markets tore into institutional investor portfolios in 2022, forcing them to pull back on private market allocations.
Dimming prospects for global economic growth and a risk-off attitude among investors mean fundraising is likely to be slow going for a while.
Not that private equity is hurting for dry powder. Private equity coffers are still brimming from the pre-2022 fundraising bonanza.
Read more about the steep fall-off in private equity fund launches in 2022.
CHART OF THE WEEK: Private equity eats a larger share of terminated M&A deals
⮞ Private equity's share of terminated M&A deals nearly doubled quarter over quarter in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 10%, a sign that macroeconomic conditions are possibly making it harder for private equity to get deals across the finish line.
⮞ The largest private equity-backed deal to fall apart in 2022 was KKR & Co. Inc.'s $23.03 bid for Australian hospital operator Ramsay Health Care Ltd., whose stock price fell 12.2% between the time the deal was announced in April and terminated in September.
⮞ Based on data collected through Dec. 15, 2022, it appeared private equity would claim a roughly 10.5% share of terminated M&A deals by volume in 2022, up slightly from 10% in 2021.
DEALS AND FUNDRAISING
* Blackstone Inc. formed a long-term strategic venture with The Regents Of The University Of California, or UC Investments, under which the latter will invest $4 billion in Class I common shares of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc., or BREIT. As part of the venture, Blackstone will also invest $1 billion of its BREIT stakes.
* Blackstone agreed to sell its 25% stake in the Grand Prix natural gas liquids pipeline to Targa Resources Corp. for $1.05 billion. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.
* Hamilton Lane Inc. closed Hamilton Lane Equity Opportunities Fund V with approximately $2.1 billion in total commitments.
* Andros Capital Partners LLC raised $750 million for its second investment fund Andros Energy Capital II LP.
ELSEWHERE IN THE INDUSTRY
* Funds affiliated with Cressey & Co. LP and Health Enterprise Partners purchased The InterMed Group from Granite Bridge Partners LLC. The target company provides healthcare technology management services.
* Equistone Partners Europe Ltd. is buying a majority stake in two of three Netherlands-based Buko business units. The target businesses, Buko Infrasupport BV and Buko Waakt BV, are providers of outsourced temporary traffic management and temporary remote security solutions, respectively.
* The Riverside Co. completed the sale of SureWerx to Partners Group Holding AG. SureWerx supplies personal protective equipment, safety gear and tool solutions.
FOCUS ON: IT
* Wendel is buying a minority stake in TaDaweb SA, an open-source intelligence platform provider, for €15 million. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.
* Vector Capital agreed to sell its portfolio company, MarkLogic, to Progress Software Corp. MarkLogic offers a semantic data platform that manages complex data and metadata.
* ChrysCapital closed its acquisition of Xoriant Corp., a digital product engineering, software development and technology services company.