Private Equity 24 Hours

Last updated: September 8, 2026, 2:11 PM ET

Deal Flow & Exits

Private equity's exit drought showed signs of thawing as Warburg Pincus and Berkshire Partners agreed to sell Consolidated Precision Products to GE Aerospace for $11.75bn. The Cleveland-based castings manufacturer, which employs about 6,600 people across more than 20 facilities, has supplied GE Aerospace for over 15 years, according to PE Hub. In another notable exit, Platinum Equity agreed to sell De Wave, a Genoa-headquartered provider of integrated marine interior systems for the cruise and yacht industries, to Renaissance Partners.

Toscafund, Three Hills and Ares formed a consortium to agree a $1.4bn buyout of Spire Healthcare, the London-listed independent hospital operator running 38 hospitals and more than 55 clinics across England, Wales and Scotland. The directors of Spire have agreed to the deal, which marks one of the larger UK healthcare take-private transactions in recent months.

ICG Infra agreed to acquire Westerleigh Group from Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and USS. Westerleigh, founded more than 30 years ago, is the UK's largest private operator of crematoria and cemeteries, running 42 sites across England, Scotland and Wales.

Fundraising & Mandates

Brookfield Asset Management secured a long-term, multi-asset investment mandate from the UK's Nuclear Liabilities Fund with an initial commitment of $1bn. The mandate underscores continued institutional appetite for large-scale alternative asset allocations from specialized public-sector funds.

Cinven held the final close of its second Strategic Fund at approximately €2.3bn, overshooting its target by roughly 50% and marking a substantial expansion of its European mid-market strategy. The oversubscription reflects strong LP demand for mid-market buyout exposure in Europe.

Crescenta, Spain's first digital manager dedicated to private equity fund investing, launched a closed-end ELTIF that lets retail investors commit from as little as €5,000. The product opens private equity access to a broader investor base, a trend gaining momentum across Europe as regulators ease retail participation rules.

AI & Technology

French artificial intelligence developer Mistral confirmed a record €3bn Series D at a €21bn valuation, with private equity and growth investors including EQT and PSG Equity among the backers. The round represents one of the largest AI funding rounds in European history, as Sifted reports, and signals continued PE appetite for frontier technology assets.

Nuclear startup Bluecore Energy announced an oversubscribed $50M seed round, just two months after raising a $10 million pre-seed and emerging from stealth. The company is developing floating small modular reactors, a niche but potentially transformative segment of the nuclear energy market.

Legaltech Lexroom sealed its first two M&A deals just four months after its $50m Series B, demonstrating rapid deployment of fresh capital in the legal technology sector.

Software & Business Services

Main Capital Partners completed its first UK platform deal, acquiring a majority stake in Orgvue, the London-based provider of strategic workforce-management software. Orgvue serves close to 200 global enterprise customers, including HM Government, Mars, Danone and Aviva. The acquisition marks Main Capital's entry into the UK market as part of its broader European software consolidation strategy, according to PE Insights.

Copilot Capital made a majority investment in Green Eagle Solutions, a Spanish technology company specializing in the automation of renewable energy operations. The deal reflects growing PE interest in software enabling the energy transition, alongside Main Capital's concurrent UK platform deal.

QPE's portfolio company Initiate completed an add-on acquisition of Dark Peak Analytics, a specialist health economics modeling and analytics business that joins Initiate's market access and HEOR platform.

Altaline Capital completed a growth investment in Risk & Regulatory Consulting, the Farmington, Connecticut-based firm founded in 1988 that provides actuarial, financial/IT and compliance support to US insurance regulators across 44 states.

People Moves & Leadership

Mill Point Capital, the lower-middle-market private equity firm focused on control investments in business services, industrials and IT services, named Littlejohn veteran Michael Kaplan as managing partner. The hire signals continued leadership strengthening across mid-market PE firms.

Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management appointed Zineb Bennani to a newly created role as Head of Strategic Development for its private assets business, hiring from Mirova to build out its private markets capabilities.

FPE promoted Ben Cole to partner, following Chris Kay's appointment to partner in 2024.

Continuation Vehicles & Secondary Market

Hudson Hill Capital closed a single-asset continuation vehicle for InXpress, an international and domestic parcel and freight services provider. "We have barely scratched the surface," said Eric Rosen, Hudson Hill's managing partner, in an exclusive interview. The CV market continues to gain traction as GPs seek liquidity solutions for mature assets without full exits, as PE Hub notes.

Industry Outlook & Regulatory

A potential rule change for political donations is reigniting an old PE debate over pay-to-play practices, while Temasek is tapping OMERS for its Europe buildout and CD&R appears to near a final close.

Meanwhile, GPs face a growing readiness problem as the exit backlog persists. PwC partner Gregory Bournet argues that portfolio company boards must be able to answer diligence questions cleanly and quickly at a moment's notice, as buyers demand faster and more rigorous due diligence processes in a competitive exit environment.

Startup & Founder Perspectives

A reflective piece explores what it's like joining a startup as a cofounder a year late, touching on the identity questions late-joining founders face in the venture ecosystem.