S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of global private equity news stories and more published throughout the week.
The U.K. is now Europe's largest private equity market in both deal volume and value after a flurry of first-half megadeals, or transactions worth at least £1 billion, according to data from CMBOR, the Centre for Private Equity and Management Buyout Research based at Nottingham University Business School.
Completed private equity deals in the U.K. totaled 96 with an aggregate value of £19.7 billion in the six months to June 30. Among the largest deals was KKR & Co. Inc.'s offer to buy renewable energy company ContourGlobal PLC, which was valued at roughly £1.75 billion.
The activity reflects the resilience of the U.K.'s private equity market, despite headwinds such as increasing interest rates, inflationary pressures, supply chain challenges and the war in Ukraine, said Christiian Marriott, head of investor relations at Equistone Partners Europe Ltd.
However, compared to the year-ago period, deal value and volume in the U.K. decreased.
Read more on the U.K. private equity market performance.
CHART OF THE WEEK: Robust 1st half for global M&A
⮞ Globally, 23 M&A deals worth $10 billion or more in the first half had a total transaction value of $560.59 billion.
⮞ The total came close to the levels set in the second half of 2020.
⮞ But June marked a weak end to the second quarter, with no $10 billion-plus deals announced worldwide during the month.
FUNDRAISING AND DEALS
* A KKR & Co. Inc.-led consortium, which includes Global Infrastructure Partners and Stonepeak Partners LP, is emerging as the preferred bidder for Deutsche Telekom AG's wireless tower business, Bloomberg News reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. A group comprising Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and Spain's Cellnex Telecom SA is also in the race for the towers unit valued at about $20 billion.
* Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. and its unit Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd. agreed to inject $1.5 billion of capital into a diversified portfolio of alternative assets managed by Apollo Global Management Inc.
* Apollo and Blackstone Inc. are seeking buyers for Ridgeback Resources Inc., Reuters reported, citing four sources familiar with the matter. The private equity giants reportedly are seeking over C$1 billion for the Canadian oil and gas producer.
* Hamilton Lane Inc. closed its Hamilton Lane Infrastructure Opportunities Fund LP with roughly $590 million in commitments. The initial target for the fund was $500 million.
ELSEWHERE IN THE INDUSTRY
* Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board closed its purchase of mortgage financing services company HomeQ Corp. from Birch Hill Equity Partners Management Inc.
* Peterson Partners LP invested in government accounting and billing software company Black Mountain Software Inc.
* Proyectos Formacion Y Servicios SL, or pfs, a Spanish provider of software and technological risk life cycle management services, received a capital injection from AnaCap Financial Partners Ltd.
* Trans-Pacific Technology Fund, Genesia Ventures Inc. and RDS provided $4.2 million in seed funding for Rey Assurance Pte. Ltd., an integrated health, life and critical illness insurance technology company.
FOCUS ON: ENERGY
* Blackstone Energy Partners LP agreed to invest $400 million in Xpansiv Ltd., a market-infrastructure platform for global carbon and environmental commodities.
* Eurazeo SE sold its entire stake in Reden Solar to a consortium led by Macquarie Asset Management Inc. for cash proceeds of €633 million.
* Qualium is looking to sell Vulcanic SA, a European industrial electric heating group, in a €261.7 million transaction.