Private Equity 24 Hours

Last updated: May 22, 2026, 11:30 AM ET

Secondaries and Deal Activity

Private equity secondaries continue to broaden in scope as CV platforms extend their reach into new asset classes. Churchill Asset Management and 50 South Capital co-led the extension of Frontenac's hold on the industrials asset MCE, a deal that reflects the growing appetite among CV investors for longer-dated positions across industrial sectors. The trend extends well beyond industrials. Secondaries Investor's latest CV deal log shows activity broadening across segments, transaction types and asset classes, suggesting that CV platforms are no longer focused on a narrow set of core sectors but are instead building diversified portfolios. Meanwhile, in the direct deal space, Avista and Damier agreed to acquire Belgian vitamins company Sanotact, with Damier Group acting as the family office of serial entrepreneur Yvan Vindevogel. The acquisition signals continued European PE interest in consumer health assets, even as regulatory complexity around the EU's AI Act intensifies. The EU is rapidly rewriting the AI Act, and that regulatory uncertainty is reshaping how PE firms evaluate sectors ranging from health to tech.

Pain Management and Healthcare Platforms

Healthcare-focused private equity is heating up, with multiple firms racing to build or consolidate pain management platforms. Charterhouse Capital, Iron Path and Revelar Capital are among the PE firms investing in platforms and add-ons for pain management, a sector that has attracted at least five deals in recent weeks according to PE Hub's tracking. The interest is part of a broader wave of healthcare consolidation. A completed merger combined two medtech manufacturers into an orthopedics-focused platform backed by Charlesbank Capital Partners, illustrating how firms are building larger, more defensible healthcare platforms through both organic expansion and strategic acquisitions. The convergence of these deals points to a sector where PE firms see durable margin improvement potential, particularly as aging populations drive demand for orthopedic and pain-related care.

Fundraising and European Expansion

European PE fundraising is accelerating, with several new vehicles targeting defense, resilience, and tech. Earlybird is raising a €500 million defense fund with French investor AVP, marking one of the largest dedicated defense vehicles from a European GP. On the disaster resilience front, Convective Capital raised an $85 million fund to broaden its mandate from fire tech into broader disaster resilience, a thematic bet that positions the firm for growth as climate-related risks drive government and corporate spending. Across the continent, the Scaleup Europe Fund is targeting more than 100 companies with €5 billion of capital, while EQT is seeking to back UK startups using the EU's €5bn superfund, a move that would channel European capital into the UK's tech ecosystem at a time when Brexit-related fragmentation remains a concern for cross-border allocators. These developments underscore a broader repositioning of European capital toward defense, climate resilience, and high-growth tech.

General Partner Strategy Shifts

General partners are adapting their strategies as LP expectations evolve. Partners Group's Todd Miller said the firm's Total Return Strategy will focus on mature heavy industries and traditional sectors, citing a perceived gap in yield-focused corporate PE. The approach targets cash flow stability in sectors that have historically traded at lower multiples, a contrarian stance as much of the industry chases growth in AI and tech. GPs are adapting to longer hold periods and lower distribution rates, pushing managers to offer alpha-delivering strategies through increasingly differentiated approaches. At the same time, Capitol Meridian appointed former U.S. Navy Secretary Ryan McCarthy as an operating partner, where he will advise on defense market trends and portfolio company value creation, signaling that defense exposure is becoming a core part of the firm's operating thesis. HIG Capital also tapped Brian Dutzar as managing director for its private wealth management team, expanding its capabilities as family offices and high-net-worth individuals grow as a capital source for PE.

Public Markets and Consumer Tech

The pipeline of PE-backed IPOs is growing. Smart ring maker Oura filed for a New York IPO, joining a wave of consumer health and wellness companies seeking public listings. In a larger tech context, SpaceX filed its IPO prospectus targeting a trillion-dollar-plus valuation, but the filing diverged from the standard playbook of elite tech IPOs, with unusual disclosures that could test investor appetite for a still-private space company. On the startup front, fragrance tech company Patina raised $2 million from Betaworks and True Ventures, aiming to disrupt an industry that has remained largely unchanged for nearly half a century. These moves across wellness, space, and consumer tech suggest that PE-backed exits are diversifying well beyond software and fintech into physical-world categories.