Private Equity 24-Hour Briefing
×Last updated: May 28, 2026, 5:30 PM ET
Fundraising & Fund Closings
Littlejohn Capital pehub.com has completed a continuation fund for commercial building services firm Valcourt Group, with Carlyle Alp Invest serving as the continuation vehicle's lead investor. Separately, Actis has secured $2.5 billion at the first close of its latest $6 billion flagship energy fund, marking a significant milestone for the sustainable infrastructure arm of General Atlantic. Meanwhile, Onex privateequityinternational.com continues to navigate PE's challenging fundraising environment, while EQT privateequityinternational.com has appointed two APAC co-heads and KKR privateequityinternational.com is expanding its European footprint with a new Milan office.
M&A & Secondary Market Activity
Stonepeak pehub.com has agreed to acquire Estia Health from Bain Capital, which had purchased the healthcare provider just seven months earlier in December 2023. In the data sector, Advaya Capital pehub.com has acquired movie box office data provider Comscore Movies in a carveout deal from the broader Comscore measurement firm. The infrastructure sector saw two significant transactions: DigitalBridge pehub.com is acquiring energy PE firm Arc Light Capital for $1.05 billion, while KKR pehub.com has sold Circor's aircraft parts group to a strategic buyer for $2.55 billion. In healthcare, Apollo pehub.com and Alpine Investors are both taking stakes in residential HVAC firm Apex Service Partners, with the latter approaching a $10 billion valuation including debt.
Industry Developments & Partnerships
EQT has established a partnership with Google Cloud to accelerate AI adoption across the firm's portfolio of more than 300 companies, providing streamlined access to Google's agentic AI platform. Oaktree secondariesinvestor.com is partnering with Pantheon to invest up to €1 billion to grow its European direct lending platform, targeting the mid-market segment. In personnel moves, Transom pehub.com has appointed Jeff Haight as an operating partner to oversee value creation initiatives, while Tikehau Capital pehub.com named Guillaume Arnaud as head of France. The industry is also responding to secondaries market challenges, with senior executives secondariesinvestor.com defending mark-up practices amid peer skepticism, and legal counsel costs secondariesinvestor.com for LP-led secondary deals ranging from zero to approximately $79,000 per transaction.
AI & Technology Focus
The European AI landscape continues to evolve with Mistral sifted.eu striking strategic partnerships with BMW and Airbus as part of its "industrial AI" push, while building a billion-dollar cloud infrastructure to compete with U.S. tech giants. The fast-paced AI funding environment saw Corgi techcrunch.com raise $106 million at a $2.6 billion valuation—double its valuation just three weeks earlier. However, experts like Carissa Véliz sifted.eu are raising concerns about the dangers of predictive AI implementations. Meanwhile, Papaya sifted.eu is addressing fintech infrastructure bottlenecks with redesigned banking-as-a-service solutions.
European Expansion & Market Evolution
Europe's startup ecosystem is showing increasing maturity, with founders increasingly willing to scale companies domestically rather than immediately relocating to the U.S. KKR is deepening its European presence with a new Milan office, while Inflexion pehub.com has backed the launch of Mittelstands-Assekuranz-Partner, a new German multi-specialist insurance broker. The region is also seeing notable growth among specific startups, with 16 Italian and Spanish startups sifted.eu achieving over 200% one-year revenue growth. In sovereign wealth activity, Saudi's PIF pehub.com is "radically changing" its supply chain strategy for PE portfolios while centralizing data using AI across its $1.15 trillion private equity holdings amid geopolitical uncertainties.