Private Equity 24-Hour Briefing
×Last updated: July 1, 2026, 2:30 PM ET
Dealmaking & Fundraisings
Private equity firms were active across sectors, with KKR agreeing to acquire EDF's North American renewables arm for $4.2 billion, potentially including an additional $390 million in payments. In a separate clean energy deal, KKR is also taking control of a $1.3 billion South Korean renewables platform alongside SK to build the country's largest clean power business. On the automotive services front, Monomoy Capital acquired pehub.com Jiffy Lube for $1.3 billion from a Shell USA subsidiary, while WILsquare-backed Automotive Color & pehub.com Ohio Paint Supply to expand its regional distribution network.
Balance Point invested in Aqua Verse, a platform created to consolidate pool service brands, and Truelink invested in pehub.com Horwitz, a firm specializing in critical commercial and industrial facility services in the Midwest. In the archiving software space, Volpi Capital took pehub.com in Kgs, which provides legally compliant document archiving for SAP environments. Harvest Partners acquired pehub.com Integra Testing Services from Keystone Capital Management, and Peak Rock sold pehub.com geospatial services firm SAM to New Mountain.
In the consumer goods sector, IVEST and Cloverlay are set to sell pehub.com Care Bears to Authentic, having quadrupled the business's size in three years. Investcorp-backed Sunrise Produce acquired pehub.com Family Tree Produce to bolster its wholesale distribution in Southern California. Verlinvest and Five Seasons backed the pet nutrition company Years, which produces ambient-stored, fresh-ingredient dog meals Verlinvest, Five Seasons back pehub.com.
Fund Finance & Investor Activity
Hamilton Lane closed its sixth direct equity fund at $3.8 billion, marking its largest fund to date. Ardian is packaging approximately $1 billion of its secondhand fund stakes into debt securities through a collateralized fund obligation. Behrman completed a $250 million continuation fund for Shurco, with Coller Capital leading the investment alongside Northleaf Capital Partners and Siguler Guff Behrman completes $250m continuation pehub.com. Secondaries buyers are increasingly comfortable with fund financing in continuation vehicles to optimize returns, according to a speaker at the European Fund Finance Symposium Secondaries investors grow more secondariesinvestor.com.
On the investor front, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) issued an RFP for a private equity buyout mandate, with plans to commit up to $20 billion to this allocation MWRA issue RFP privateequityinternational.com. The Global Investor 150 ranking, which identifies the world's largest limited partners in private equity, was released, showing strong LP conviction in the asset class despite market turbulence GI 150: leading allocators privateequityinternational.com. The top 10 investors on the ranking collectively manage $1.1 trillion in private equity allocations, with an average of 21% committed to the asset class Global Investor 150: privateequityinternational.com.
Venture Capital & Emerging Companies
Tapestry VC launched sifted.eu an $80 million third fund aimed at backing repeat founders in Europe, anticipating a wave of AI exits to generate new entrepreneurial talent Tapestry VC Closes news.crunchbase.com. Ex-Speedinvest partner Rick Hao closed a $50 million solo GP fund focused on deeptech startups Ex-Speedinvest partner Rick Hao sifted.eu. DeepMind Gensyn angels backed sifted.eu Xylo in a £2.8 million raise.
The AI sector continues to attract significant investment, with Brookfield expanding its financing with Bloom Energy to $25 billion, a fivefold increase aimed at powering AI infrastructure. Ardian Semiconductor has taken a minority stake in VSORA, a French fabless chip designer focused on AI inference accelerators for data centers Ardian Semiconductor takes minority stake, Ardian Semiconductor invests pehub.com. The Prague-based AI lab Equi Libre Technologies, founded by three ex-Deep Mind researchers, is now valued at over $500 million DeepMind trio techcrunch.com.
Sector Investments
In the industrial and manufacturing sectors, Inflexion sold pehub.com Avantus Aerospace to Arcline, where it will operate as part of Novaria Group. First Reserve-backed Trillium Flow Technologies sold select valve businesses to Flowserve, excluding its French operations First Reserve-backed Trillium Flow pehub.com.
The medical device and education sectors present opportunities for private equity. Houlihan Lokey noted that long-term trends support growth for independent service organizations focused on large hospital equipment New avenues open pehub.com. The pressing global need for healthcare professionals is a tailwind for PE investors in medical education Medical education gap presents privateequityinternational.com. THL-backed Headlands Research acquired Clinical Trials Research, a clinical trial site network THL-backed Headlands Research acquires pehub.com. Healthcare investments generally are on the mend after a challenging period Healthcare investments reach privateequityinternational.com.
In the utility sector, FPE backed pehub.com BMA, a software and services platform providing decision intelligence for utility companies and asset-intensive infrastructure operators FPE backs utility software pehub.com.
Other Notable Activity
Bending Spoons priced its Nasdaq IPO at $29.00 per share, above its projected range, allowing backers to cash in on the Milan-based technology group's growth. William Blair acquired pehub.com investment bank Inner Circle Sports, which serves sports teams, leagues, and investors. Blue Wolf hired Vanessa Generelli as its new CFO, with Eve Mongiardo continuing as partner and chief compliance officer Blue Wolf taps Vanessa pehub.com. In a significant legal victory, Klarna won a $1.97 billion antitrust lawsuit sifted.eu against Google.
Self-driving technology scaleup Wayve is set to test the London Stock Exchange's Pisces platform Self-driving scaleup Wayve set sifted.eu. EQT's $1.7 billion bid for Perpetual was rebuffed by the Australian fund manager's board, which is holding out for better value EQT's $1.7bn tilt at Perpetual rebuffed.