Private Equity 3d Briefing
×Major Exits and Blockbuster Deals
Private equity firms executed a record $5.5bn exit pe-insights.com as EQT and its co-investors sold their remaining stake in Swiss dermatology specialist Galderma, marking the largest secondary share sale in Swiss history. The deal underscores a resurgence in large-scale liquidity events. Meanwhile, Blackstone took a majority stake pehub.com in Advanced Cooling Technologies, a Pennsylvania-based developer of cryogenic systems, while its affiliate Blue Owl Capital also acquired a minority stake pehub.com in the $16bn industrial platform Atlas Holdings, expanding its reach into middle-market operations. In a separate exploration, Brookfield is in talks pe-insights.com to acquire World Freight Company from EQT and PAI in a potential $1.3bn transaction, highlighting continued consolidation in the logistics sector. These moves follow CVC Capital Partners' announcement of a record €21.9bn in realised exits privateequityinternational.com for 2025, a 77% increase year-over-year, suggesting improved exit visibility after a prolonged drought.
AI Investment Shifts and Venture Capital Dynamics
Venture capital investors are recalibrating around agentic AI news.crunchbase.com, moving away from flashy demonstrations to prioritize startups with proven production usage, measurable outcomes, and clear revenue streams. This pragmatic turn is exemplified by Khosla Ventures' Ethan Choi, who discussed flipping his investing philosophy news.crunchbase.com to focus on AI's tangible impact on business operations and the potential displacement of entry-level jobs. The massive $1B seed round for Paris-based AI lab AMI, Europe's largest ever news.crunchbase.com, funds the development of "world models" and signals that deep-tech and foundational AI remain capital magnets despite the shift toward outcome-focused investing. This bifurcation is also evident in the $550M Series D for Swedish legal tech unicorn Legora, which tripled its valuation to $5.55bn news.crunchbase.com, showing that vertical-specific AI applications with clear ROI continue to attract significant capital.
Secondaries Market Surge and GP Stakes
The secondaries market is experiencing unprecedented activity, with large LPs actively deploying capital. Canada's CPP Investments launched a multi-billion-dollar portfolio sale secondariesinvestor.com dubbed Project Ember, offering equal strips across buyout funds. This follows Ardian's partnership with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to target a $20bn real estate secondaries opportunity pe-insights.com and BNP Paribas Asset Management closing €540m for its GP stakes strategy pe-insights.com, aimed at direct investments in private capital managers. Industry leaders note a structural shift; at NEXUS 2026, Ardian's Ava Mallin stated that private wealth capital is expanding capacity for larger deals, while Step Stone's Matthew Roche argued that DPI now effectively equals IRR secondariesinvestor.com in a market where exit pacing has been slow. The trend is further evidenced by the growing importance of continuation funds (CVs), with a new partnership between Edmond de Rothschild Corporate Finance and Jasmin Capital focusing specifically on co-control deals secondariesinvestor.com where GPs sell partial stakes via M&A while rolling remainder into a CV.
Fundraising and Platform Building
Major firms are securing substantial capital for regional and thematic strategies. Bain Capital raised $12.5bn across its Asia and Japan buyout funds pe-insights.com, underscoring sustained institutional appetite for the region's growth. CVC Capital Partners secured approximately €3.7bn in financing pe-insights.com for its Global Sport Group, backed by KKR and Pimco, enabling a major push into sports media and rights. In infrastructure, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners achieved a €1.3bn first close pe-insights.com for its flagship green credit fund, targeting renewable energy projects. The private equity evergreen fund model is gaining traction, with Partners Group's CEO David Layton pushing back against fears privateequityinternational.com about AI and credit risks, noting his firm's conservative leverage in its private credit vehicles. Early analysis from Hamilton Lane suggests evergreen funds are outperforming privateequityinternational.com closed-end peers over one- and three-year periods, a data point likely to fuel further structural innovation.
Sector-Specific Deals and Portfolio Activity
Deal flow remains robust across industrial, healthcare, and consumer sectors. In healthcare, health insurance unicorn Alan hit a €5bn valuation sifted.eu amid European fintech consolidation pressures, while Carlyle agreed to sell pe-insights.com Colombian oil producer Sierra Col to Prime Infrastructure. In industrials, Lone Star acquired Lonza’s Capsules and Health Ingredients division pehub.com, and Wynnchurch-backed Hydraulic Technologies bought Foxtrot Industriel pehub.com, a motorized handling equipment manufacturer. The add-on acquisition strategy continues, with HIG-backed Coriant making its fourth purchase pehub.com by acquiring CVS, and North Edge-backed Ramarketing picking up ISR Market Research pehub.com. In a notable automotive services play, Monomoy agreed to buy Jiffy Lube from Shell pehub.com in a $1.3bn deal, building on its core oil change business with expanded maintenance offerings.
Macro-Economic and Strategic Perspectives
Private equity leaders are grappling with valuation mismatches and geopolitical headwinds while expressing caution on public market comparisons. A recent PE International "Side Letter" noted that GPs are growing less confident about PE outperformance privateequityinternational.com, a sentiment echoed by an LP featured in another edition who bemoaned the asset class's underperformance privateequityinternational.com. The industry is also contending with regulatory shifts; one analysis warned that Europe built the Green Regulation but forgot to fund the companies sifted.eu meant to deliver it, potentially creating an investment vacuum. Conversely, sovereign wealth funds like GIC are advancing portfolio companies toward the public markets, with the GIC-backed renewable developer Greenko lining up a potential $1bn IPO pe-insights.com. The strategic use of structured financing is also evolving, as Carlyle explores a multibillion-dollar facility pe-insights.com to seed its Carlyle Partners IX fund, a move that could accelerate deployment timelines.