S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of global private equity news stories and more published throughout the week.
As positive indicators for private equity have become scarce in 2023, exit totals are one metric that is moving in the right direction for fund managers.
Exit totals increased to 467 globally in the third quarter, up more than 5% quarter over quarter and nearly 22% year over year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. Private equity has now recorded three consecutive quarters of improving exit data after bottoming out at just 286 in the fourth quarter of 2022.
However, exits are still hovering well below their sky-high 2021 levels. Deterioration in the macroeconomic picture and a series of interest rate hikes since 2022 have eroded valuations for portfolio companies, and fund managers appear reluctant to pull the trigger on a sale or IPO.
Blackstone Inc. CEO Stephen Schwarzman put it simply this week on the firm's third-quarter earnings call: "The environment today is less favorable for realizations, so we've chosen to sell less."
Read more about the third-quarter uptick in private equity and venture capital exits, including the 10 largest such transactions for the period.
CHART OF THE WEEK: Entries tumble in September
⮞ The value of private equity and venture capital entries globally fell 22.3% year over year to $28.55 billion in September, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
⮞ While the aggregate value of entries fell, it more than doubled in the industrial sector to $7.70 billion in September from $3.12 billion in the year-ago period.
⮞ Full third-quarter values also declined year over year, with entries globally totaling $105.32 billion between July 1 and Sept. 30, down over 18% from the third quarter in 2022.
TOP DEALS AND FUNDRAISING
– Blue Wolf Capital Partners LLC and Stonepeak Partners LP agreed to buy Logistec Corp. for C$67 per share in cash. The deal values the Canadian marine cargo-handling services provider at about C$1.2 billion.
– KKR & Co. LP raised about $3 billion at the final close of its latest technology growth fund. The KKR Next Generation Technology Growth Fund III SCSp will focus on companies across North America, Europe and Israel.
– Gridiron Capital LLC secured $2.1 billion at the close of its largest flagship fund and affiliated vehicles. Gridiron Capital Fund V LP exceeded its $1.8 billion target.
– Graycliff Partners LP raised $600 million at the close of its fifth lower-middle-market private equity fund. The Graycliff Private Equity Partners V LP fund completed fundraising in less than four months.
MIDDLE-MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
– Healthcare technology company Hallmark Health Care Solutions Inc. secured investment from midmarket private equity firm Enhanced Healthcare Partners and Summit Partners LP.
– CenterGate Capital LP bought print services provider Cartridge Technologies Inc. from lower-middle-market investment firm Broadtree Partners.
– Apax Partners LLP agreed to buy London-based IT consulting company Kin and Carta PLC for 110 pence per share in cash. The deal values the company's total ordinary share capital at about £203 million on a fully diluted basis.
– Varsity Healthcare Partners made a strategic growth investment in veterinary care platform VetEvolve LLC.
FOCUS ON: ASSET MANAGEMENT
– KKR agreed to buy a minority stake in multi-strategy investment firm Catalio Capital Management LP. As part of the agreement, KKR will also invest in Catalio's funds.
– Wendel is in exclusive talks to purchase a controlling stake in European midmarket buyout firm IK Partners.
– Aquarian Holdings Investment Management LLC acquired a minority equity ownership stake in Obra Capital Inc. from Reverence Capital Partners LP.
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For further private equity deals, read our latest In Play report, which looks at potential private equity-backed M&A, including rumored transactions, each week.
Join S&P Global Market Intelligence at 11 a.m. ET on Oct. 31 for a webinar on Navigating private wealth: The keys to succeed in this new private capital fundraising market