Private Equity 24 Hours

Last updated: August 10, 2026, 8:42 PM ET

Deals & Take-Privates

Apollo Global Management lobbed a £5.7bn recommended offer for easy Jet in what would be the largest European take-private this year. Bernhard Capital agreed to take Bowman Consulting Group private for $1bn, including a 35-day go-shop period. I Squared Capital struck a $733m enterprise-value deal for Australian out-of-home advertiser oOh!media at a 100% premium. New Mountain Capital is buying fire safety engineering firm Jensen Hughes from Gryphon Investors. Amberjack Capital closed its carve-out of Flowserve’s PMV Automation group, including facilities in Houston and Solna. In Eastern Europe, Provectus Capital Partners made its Romanian debut by acquiring a majority stake in occupational health firm Seatbelt Consulting. CPP Investments committed ~$143m for a 49.5% interest in two Hilton hotels in Brazil alongside HSI. KKR closed a strategic equity investment in Crowe Advisory, the tax and advisory arm of the accounting network. Meanwhile, VSS closed a minority stake in infrastructure services firm Cordoba, with principal Sai Parepally noting AI cannot displace the need for physical infrastructure.

Fundraising & Capital

Brookfield Asset Management raised a record $77bn in Q2, driven by private equity, infrastructure and credit. StepStone Group surpassed $21bn in private wealth AUM; its SPRING vehicle attracted nearly $1.7bn in quarterly subscriptions, according to CEO Scott Hart. Korea’s Employment Insurance Fund is seeking to commit 120bn Korean won to blind-pool private equity and venture capital funds for 2026.

Market Trends & Secondaries

PE dealflow in Q2 hit its worst level since 2020, with TMT seeing the steepest year-over-year drop in deal count. The Side Letter reports a divergence in secondaries: continuation fund activity now outstrips traditional secondaries, while new ESG rules could chill private markets. Globally, unicorn creation rebounded sharply — 195 companies joined the Crunchbase Unicorn Board in H1 2026, already surpassing the full-year total for 2025. A wave of major AI IPOs could return significant liquidity to LPs, fueling a new venture fundraising cycle, according to Crunchbase analysis.

Regional Spotlight

The Spanish mid-market is drawing dealmakers as family-owned companies approach succession decisions. The UK’s AI ambitions are under scrutiny after a DeepMind shakeup and amid questions about the lab’s future as a British anchor. A separate analysis argues that DeepMind’s future has become all the more critical for the domestic tech ecosystem. Meanwhile, Nabla’s new CEO Brian Manning stated he is “not here to be acquired” as the healthtech startup charts an independent path.