Private Equity 24 Hours

Last updated: May 15, 2026, 5:30 AM ET

Deals & Capital Raises

Private equity dealmaking picked up across Europe and North America as capital flowed into logistics, infrastructure, and tech-adjacent sectors. CPP Investments committed €400m alongside Blackstone to acquire a significant minority stake in Proudreed, a French last-mile logistics platform, marking one of the larger co-investment rounds in the sector this year. The transaction follows Blackstone's own €600m funding round for German drone maker Quantum Systems, which could value the business at approximately €7bn and positions the firm alongside Airbus as a strategic anchor. Meanwhile, Brookfield Asset Management is set to acquire World Freight Company from EQT and PAI in a $1.2bn deal, underscoring continued appetite for mid-market transportation assets. Across the Atlantic, Welsh Carson is targeting $5bn for its latest flagship fund, its 15th vehicle, with a mandate focused on mid-market buyout opportunities in North America. The fundraising environment also shows signs of tightening for secondaries, as CV pricing climbed amid new buyside capital formation, with Houlihan Lokey reporting that rising demand and greater emphasis on asset selection have reduced the share of credits priced in the lower range.

AI, Tech, and New Fund Formation

Artificial intelligence continued to dominate fundraising conversations, from headline-grabbing IPOs to early-stage bets. Cerebras Systems soared on its first day of Nasdaq trading after years of private fundraising and scrapped earlier IPO plans, delivering substantial returns for Benchmark, which had nearly passed on the hardware startup a decade ago. The debut followed the broader surge in tech job cuts tracked by Crunchbase, which tallied over 127,000 workers laid off at U.S.-based tech companies in 2025 alone, as the sector recalibrates headcount around AI-driven workflows. On the private side, Khosla Ventures is betting $10m on Ian Crosby, who is building Synthetic, a fully autonomous AI bookkeeping service, while Xpanner raised $18m in a Series B round to offer "automation as a service" for construction sites by retrofitting equipment with robotics and physical AI. Closer to the PE ecosystem, Euan Blair's Multiverse raised $70m to boost its valuation, and James Wise defended the Sovereign AI Unit model against criticism, arguing the approach remains viable for capitalizing on state-backed compute infrastructure.

Sector Expansion & Conference Circuit

Private equity firms are broadening into new verticals and geographic markets. Ardian, Blackstone, Bridgepoint, and EQT are among the firms moving into the testing and inspection sector drawn by revenue predictability, while L Catterton, the LVMH-affiliated consumer PE firm, backed Saint Bella Group in a strategic partnership to build a global family-care platform out of China. General Atlantic invested in PowerGEM, adding to the company's existing backer TA Associates, which has held a stake since 2024. The deal ecosystem also saw Aquiline-backed Relation acquire Crop Rx Insurance Services, and Ansor-backed Complii acquire the Escalator Company, reflecting a scattergun approach to bolt-on acquisitions. On the conference front, the European PE calendar is filling up, with Italy's largest PE conference returning to Milan next May, France's largest returning to Paris next March, the Nordics' largest heading to Stockholm this November, and Iberia's largest convening in Madrid this October, suggesting deal flow confidence across the continent. The conference circuit matters as dealmakers are being urged to attend AGMs rather than skip them, since relationship management with LPs remains a core part of the fundraising process.

Infrastructure & Secondaries

Infrastructure and energy assets drew heavyweight capital. BlackRock's GIP, Temasek, and Abu Dhabi's L'IMAD and ADNOC launched a $30bn Gulf and Central Asia infrastructure platform, signaling sovereign wealth fund interest in regional development projects. In energy, Houlihan Lokey's JP Hanson flagged $30bn of oil and gas assets coming to market, with the Iran War's impact on upstream M&A providing added urgency. On the real estate side, Blackstone raised $1.75bn in the largest ever blind-pool REIT IPO to chase AI data centre demand, while Lazard's acquisition of Campbell Lutyens illustrated how scale is becoming a prerequisite for advisory competitiveness. Secondaries activity also gained traction, with Mosaic Capital tapping Bridget Meller as business development VP and Good Springs investing in Snyder Environmental Services, targeting predictable cash flows in water and wastewater markets. Meanwhile, RFE-backed ZRG acquired Sterling Martin Associates, expanding into executive search, and Balance Point injected capital into The Edge, a jewelry retail software provider tied to Serent Capital's acquisition.