Advent International agreed to sell Irca, the Italian chocolate and compound ingredients maker, after roughly four years of ownership during which revenue grew almost fourfold. The exit, expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026 pending regulatory approvals, signals continued appetite for specialty food assets despite a sluggish broader M&A backdrop.

Blackstone Private Equity Strategies (BXPE) posted a net 4.3% return in May, lifting year-to-date gains to 11.4% for Class 1 shares. The vehicle deployed more than $2.5 billion in the second quarter, doubling down on Anthropic and initiating a position in Stripe — a clear bet that AI foundation models and payments infrastructure will compound value faster than public-market multiples suggest.

Ardian tapped its $20 billion Fund VI to finance Verne's expansion into Norway and Denmark, adding to the 110-plus megawatts already operating or slated for delivery in Finland by late 2027. Gonzague Boutry, Ardian's head of digital infrastructure for Europe, told Bloomberg the capital targets hyperscale-ready campuses powered by renewable grids.

The week underscores a bifurcating private-equity playbook: harvest mature consumer platforms at full valuations, concentrate dry powder into AI and digital-infrastructure winners, and price regulatory risk into 2026 close timetables. Funds that can underwrite power-constrained data-center pipelines while exiting non-core holdings at peak multiples will set the pace for 2025 vintage returns.