S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of global private equity news stories and more published throughout the week.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it started an exodus of foreign capital from Russia’s private markets.
That exodus is now nearly complete. The total announced value of foreign private equity and venture capital investments in Russia declined 39% year over year to about $1.50 billion in 2023, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, which also indicates domestic firms are now the source for most private capital invested in the country.
Foreign private equity investment in Ukraine is trending in the opposite direction.
Most of the $540.2 million in announced private equity-backed deal value in Ukraine in 2023 is linked to a single transaction: the proposed $525 million acquisition of certain assets of Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS by French private equity firm NJJ Capital SAS. Excluding that deal from the total shows private equity-backed investment in Ukraine companies still ticked up above 60% year over year in 2023.
Read more about private equity investment trends in Ukraine and Russia two years after the start of the invasion.
CHART OF THE WEEK: Sentiment turns up for private equity’s Big 4
⮞ A brighter tone resonated through the latest round of earnings calls by private equity’s Big Four firms, according to a Market Intelligence analysis of the language used by executives and analysts in transcripts.
⮞ The four largest US-listed private equity firms by assets under management — Apollo Global Management Inc., Blackstone Inc., The Carlyle Group Inc. and KKR & Co. Inc. — all have their sights set on better fundraising and an improved M&A environment in 2024.
⮞ It is not all rosy. Fundraising for private equity is still a challenge with many institutional investors focusing their attention on other investment strategies, particularly private credit and infrastructure.
TOP DEALS AND FUNDRAISING
– An investor group led by Stone Point Capital LLC and Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC agreed to buy Truist Financial Corp.’s remaining stake in Truist Insurance Holdings LLC. The all-cash deal values the insurance broker at $15.5 billion.
– Bernhard Capital Partners Management LP is acquiring certain gas assets from CenterPoint Energy Inc. for $1.2 billion in a deal expected to close toward the end of the first quarter of 2025. The assets include about 12,000 miles of mainline pipeline in Louisiana and Mississippi.
– A joint venture between RedBird Capital Partners LLC and International Media Investments FZ LLC agreed to buy television production and distribution company All3Media Ltd. from Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. and Liberty Global Ltd. for £1.15 billion.
– Funds managed by Apollo Global Management Inc. acquired a 20% stake in Energos Infrastructure Management LLC from New Fortress Energy Inc.
– CVC Capital Partners Ltd. surpassed the original target and hard cap for its sixth Asia fund, CVC Capital Partners Asia VI, raising $6.8 billion at final close. The fund will invest in core consumer and services sectors across Asia.
MIDDLE-MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
– LO3 Capital and Tamarix Equity Partners LP made a debt and equity investment in modular building maker Diamond Builders Inc.
– Harwood Private Equity LLP
– Levine Leichtman Capital Partners LLC bought water and wastewater operations and maintenance services provider USA Water Holdings LLC from Warren Equity Partners LLC.
FOCUS ON: BIOTECHNOLOGY
– Syncona Ltd. wrapped up its purchase of UK-based biotechnology company Freeline Therapeutics Holdings PLC.
– Soil intelligence platform Trace Genomics Inc. raised $10.5 million in a series B funding round led by S2G Ventures and Ajax Strategies LLC.
– Israel-based herbicide company WeedOut Ltd. secured $8.1 million in a series A round led by Fulcrum Global Capital.
– UK-based MIP Discovery pulled in £7 million in a series A round, which saw participation from Calculus Capital Ltd.
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.
