S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of global private equity news stories and more published throughout the week.
Deceleration in just about every metric used to judge private equity performance is one of the most prominent storylines of 2022. But it is not the whole story.
Widen the view just a little bit — and ignore, for a moment, the near-complete absence of private equity-backed IPOs — and private equity's 2022 slowdown may look more like a return to business as usual.
Start here: There was yet another big year-over-year decline in private equity and venture capital dealmaking in November, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. The value of global entries fell 53.5% compared to the same month in 2021, to a total of just $63.51 billion.
Exits and fundraising are pacing slower this year, too, as the industry contends with inflation, rising interest rates and slowing economic growth.
In this down year for private equity, it is important to remember some context. Judged by many of those same metrics — exits, entries and fundraisings — private equity's record 2021 was an outlier, a peak the industry may not return to for some time.
Globally, private equity and venture capital firms racked up $677.23 billion worth of entries between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30. That was an approximately 37% year-over-year decline from the $1.079 trillion in entries the industry recorded over the same 11-month stretch in 2021.
However, 2022 year-to-date entry value is between 34% and 43% higher than it was at the same point in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Not bad.
Read more about private equity entries in November to see which sectors and regions were most active.
CHART OF THE WEEK: A big drop in PE-backed food and beverage deals
⮞ Private equity activity in the food and beverage space is headed for a big decline in 2022, with the $9.69 billion in deals recorded through Nov. 30 representing just 18% of the 2021 full-year total.
⮞ The pace of private equity investment in a variety of food and beverage businesses, including restaurants, food retailers, meat producers and packaged foods and meat businesses, has been declining since the fourth quarter of 2021.
⮞ The year-over-year drop-off in deal value looks so stark in part because 2021 defied long-term dealmaking trends, with private equity-backed deal volume in the food and beverage sector totaling $54.7 billion, or at least three times larger than the aggregate deal values recorded in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
DEALS AND FUNDRAISING
* Thomson Reuters Corp. and certain fund affiliates of Blackstone Inc. are selling their co-owned shares in London Stock Exchange Group PLC to Microsoft Corp. The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023, would bring in approximately $1 billion in gross proceeds for Thomson Reuters.
* Pembina Pipeline Corp. and KKR & Co. Inc. agreed to divest a 50% stake in Canada's proposed Key Access Pipeline System for about $485.5 million. Pembina owns 60% of Pembina Gas Infrastructure Inc., and the rest is owned by the private equity giant.
* Funds managed by The Carlyle Group Inc. sold Sequa Corp., the parent company of Chromalloy, to Veritas Capital. Sequa is a technology company that provides solutions for aircraft engines and gas turbines.
* Fifth Wall Ventures Management LLC held a final close for its Real Estate Technology Fund III with $866 million in capital commitments.
ELSEWHERE IN THE INDUSTRY
* The Riverside Co. provided capital to AlphaGroup Medical Communications LLC. The scientific, medical affairs and outcomes communication service provider caters to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device/diagnostic markets.
* TPG Capital LP's Asian arm agreed to acquire Poonawalla Fincorp Ltd. unit Poonawalla Housing Finance Ltd. at a pre-money equity valuation of 39 billion Indian rupees. The private equity firm will also inject additional equity capital of as much as 10 billion rupees into the target company in the near term.
* Stonepeak Partners LP is buying a 50% stake in KAPS from Keyera Corp., which will continue to hold the remaining 50% stake in the Canadian natural gas liquids pipeline system and operate the asset. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023.
* Ardian and Mubadala Capital formed a partnership whereby the French investment house will inject capital into private equity assets managed by the United Arab Emirates-based firm. Ardian will make a primary commitment to Mubadala Capital's private equity funds.
FOCUS ON: SOFTWARE AND SERVICES
* Thoma Bravo LP, among other investors, agreed to acquire Coupa Software Inc., a cloud-based business spend management platform, at an enterprise value of $8 billion. Upon completion of the all-cash deal, Coupa will cease to trade publicly.
* LDC (Managers) Ltd. made a significant investment in Etrading Software Ltd., a London-based capital markets technology firm.
* Pfingsten Partners LLC made a major investment in Tempest, a network solutions provider.