Private Equity 3d Briefing
×Secondaries Market Expansion
The private equity secondaries market is witnessing a significant influx of new participants and record-setting transactions. Lindsay Goldberg secondariesinvestor.com is among several firms plotting a build-out of its secondaries capabilities, joining a growing wave of private equity entrants targeting this liquidity-providing segment. This strategic shift is mirrored by traditional players forming partnerships to capture co-control deal flow, as seen with Edmond de Rothschild Corporate Finance and Jasmin Capital secondariesinvestor.com aligning to focus on transactions where GPs sell partial stakes via M&A while moving the remainder into continuation vehicles. The scale of this opportunity was underscored by EQT pe-insights.com, which led a approximately €5.5 billion ($6 secondary share sale for its remaining stake in Galderma, marking a record-breaking exit in the Swiss market. This aligns with broader industry trends where secondaries are becoming a core exit path; as noted at NEXUS 2026, continuation vehicles are projected to represent 10-20% of all private equity exits. The demand for liquidity is also driving large portfolio sales, with CPP Investments secondariesinvestor.com coming to market with a multi-billion-dollar portfolio dubbed Project Ember, valued at over $3 billion and comprising equal strips across buyout funds. Concurrently, the performance dynamics of evergreen funds, which are increasingly active in secondaries, show outperformance over closed-end peers privateequityinternational.com on one- and three-year horizons, adding a new layer of competition for traditional secondary buyers.
Buyout Platform Builds and Add-on Acquisitions
Private equity firms are aggressively expanding their portfolio companies through a steady stream of add-on acquisitions, particularly in the industrial and specialized services sectors. Chimney Rock Capital pehub.com acquired Gas Clip Technologies, a supplier of portable gas detection services serving industrial, marine, utility, refining, chemical processing, and water/wastewater end markets. Similarly, AE Industrial’s AIM MRO pehub.com completed its fourth add-on acquisition with the purchase of AA Bushings, demonstrating a focused consolidation strategy within its aerospace and defense maintenance platform. This roll-up activity extends across multiple sectors: Hyperion’s Ranger pehub.com bought Mark One Safety Solutions, a provider of fire safety and emergency lighting systems; Bertram Capital-backed Cogency Global pehub.com acquired Elemental CoSec to expand its UK governance and compliance capabilities; and NorthEdge-backed Ramarketing pehub.com picked up ISR Market Research, a specialist firm in pharmaceutical outsourcing research. The trend is global and sector-agnostic, with deals like Wynnchurch-backed Hydraulic Technologies pehub.com acquiring Foxtrot Industriel, a manufacturer of motorized industrial handling equipment, and LDC pehub.com investing in i247 Group, a technology-led fleet management software provider for automotive leasing. This prolific add-on activity highlights the ongoing effort to build scale and operational synergies within portfolio companies, a strategy that remains central to value creation in the current mid-market environment.
Major Exits and Strategic Divestments
The exit environment showed signs of both robustness and strategic repositioning, with several blockbuster transactions reaching closure or being actively marketed. CVC privateequityinternational.com reported a record year, realizing €21.9 billion in exit value for 2025—a 77% increase over the prior year—with private equity broadly generating €19.5 billion in exits. This momentum included TPG’s $4.75 billion sale pehub.com of Intersect to Google, a deal that involved spinning off the grid-tied power business into a new independent company. In the consumer sector, E2P Capital pehub.com sold Furlani Foods to Arbor Investments after a three-year hold, with the firm noting it achieved operational goals faster than planned. Monomoy Capital pehub.com agreed to buy the Jiffy Lube business from Shell in a $1.3 billion deal, building on its core oil change offering with additional automotive services. Large-scale portfolio sales are also in motion, with Brookfield Asset Management pe-insights.com exploring a $1.3 billion acquisition of World Freight Company from EQT and PAI-backed sponsors. Furthermore, EQT pe-insights.com is exploring a potential $6 billion divestment of SUSE, the Linux developer, while Advent International pe-insights.com is considering a $4 billion sale of its naval defense business Ultra Maritime. These moves indicate a renewed focus on harvesting mature assets, even as valuation mismatches for certain segments persist.
AI Investment Recalibration and Venture Capital Dynamics
Venture capital and growth equity investment is undergoing a pronounced shift toward practicality and measurable outcomes in artificial intelligence, moving beyond hype-driven valuations. Investors are now prioritizing startups that demonstrate real production usage and revenue news.crunchbase.com, focusing less on flashy demos and more on proven business impact. This recalibration is reflected in funding rounds for applied AI startups, such as Rebar news.crunchbase.com, which raised $14 million for an AI-generated quote system for commercial HVAC suppliers. The trend extends to large-scale bets on foundational models, with Paris-based AMI news.crunchbase.com securing Europe’s largest seed round ever at $1 billion to build AI "world models." Meanwhile, established tech investors are reassessing their theses; Khosla Ventures’ Ethan Choi discussed flipping his investing philosophy news.crunchbase.com in response to AI’s impact on the job market and software development. The venture landscape is also seeing diversification beyond pure AI plays, with Swedish legal tech unicorn Legora news.crunchbase.com tripling its valuation to $5.55 billion after a $550 million Series D led by Accel, and Series B funding moving steadily higher news.crunchbase.com after a 2023 lull. This pivot toward operational maturity and revenue generation suggests a more disciplined era for VC, even as massive funds like Founders Fund techcrunch.com near a $6 billion close for its latest growth vehicle.
Fundraising, Evergreens, and LP Sentiment
Major fundraising successes and evolving limited partner strategies are reshaping the private equity capital landscape. Bain Capital pe-insights.com secured $12.5 billion across its latest Asia and Japan buyout funds, underscoring continued institutional appetite for regional exposure. On the credit side, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners pe-insights.com raised €1.3 billion at first close for its flagship green credit fund, while BNP Paribas Asset Management pe-insights.com gathered €540 million for its inaugural GP stakes strategy targeting private capital managers. The rise of evergreen structures is a key theme, with Partners Group’s CEO privateequityinternational.com dismissing fears about AI and credit risks as "wildly overdone," noting the firm’s private credit evergreen funds are not leveraged in the same manner as some peers. Analysis from Hamilton Lane privateequityinternational.com indicates these evergreen funds are outperforming traditional closed-end peers, a dynamic attracting more capital. However, LPs are expressing growing skepticism about private equity’s outperformance, as highlighted in recent Side Letter privateequityinternational.com and reality check pehub.com reports. This tension is driving innovation in liquidity solutions, with Ardian and ADIA pe-insights.com targeting a $20 billion real estate secondaries opportunity and Ardian’s Ava Mallin secondariesinvestor.com noting that despite an influx of private wealth capital, the secondaries market remains "undercapitalised." The structural evolution is further evidenced by Carlyle pe-insights.com exploring a multibillion-dollar structured financing to seed its flagship Carlyle Partners IX fund, seeking to optimize timing and liquidity for investors.
Sector-Specific Deals and Geopolitical Considerations
Sector-specific consolidation and geopolitical factors are influencing deal flow and valuations across private equity portfolios. In healthcare, BV Investment pehub.com backed Moxe Health, a clinical data exchange platform, while Lone Star pehub.com agreed to buy Lonza’s Capsules and Health Ingredients division. Industrial technology saw activity