Private Equity 3d Briefing
×Last updated: March 20, 2026, 12:30 AM ET
Exits and Continuation Vehicles Dominate Secondaries Market
Dealmaking across the secondaries market continues to be driven by sophisticated continuation vehicles (CVs), exemplified by QHP Capital completing a $1.1 billion fund pehub.com for Azurity Pharmaceuticals, led by Harbour Vest Partners pehub.com. This trend is further seen in Europe where Ares Management led a €300 million CV pe-insights.com for the frozen baked goods company Europastry, following a halt in its planned initial public offering, while MCH simultaneously raised a separate €300 million vehicle secondariesinvestor.com for the same asset. In contrast to this GP-led activity, some LPs are taking a disciplined approach to selling secondariesinvestor.com, bringing assets to market over the last 15 months, though the overall exit pipeline remains challenging to clear privateequityinternational.com, with even older assets proving difficult to divest.
Further restructuring activity includes Bindley Capital’s backing of a synthetic secondary offering pehub.com for Guardian Pharmacy Services, an Atlanta-based long-term care provider, and Ronin Equity taking a minority stake pehub.com in Aeri Tek Global via a GP-led secondary. The secondaries space is also seeing strategic personnel moves, with HighVista Strategies appointing Raudel Yanez pehub.com to spearhead its GP-led secondaries strategy focused on the lower middle market. Meanwhile, liquidity concerns persist, as signaled by Maine’s pension fund planning a second cut secondariesinvestor.com to its private equity target allocation in four years, suggesting potential future secondaries sales to manage exposure.
Mega-Exits and Sector-Specific Activity
Large-cap buyout firms are actively exploring significant divestitures across various sectors, with CVC Capital Partners and Nordic Capital setting sights on an exit pe-insights.com for Cary Group, potentially valuing the business at over €3 billion. Equally substantial is the potential exit of Advent and Cinven’s stake in TK Elevator pe-insights.com, which is being explored as Kone enters takeover talks for a deal that could reach €25 billion. In the technology and software space, Accel-KKR claimed the Large-Cap Europe Deal of the Year pehub.com for its exit from Smart Communications. Conversely, exit timing remains extended, as hold periods for portfolio companies are reported as longer than ever pehub.com.
In energy and infrastructure, LS Power is set to acquire 4.4 gigawatts pehub.com of natural gas generation capacity from Constellation Energy for $5 billion, while TDR Capital and I Squared Capital explore options pe-insights.com for a potential $15 billion IPO or stake sale of Aggreko. Technology exits also featured, with Seaport making a strategic divestment pehub.com of Exacom to Motorola Solutions. Conversely, major growth equity players like KKR, Silver Lake, and General Atlantic are positioning for exits pe-insights.com tied to the anticipated $4 billion IPO of Reliance Jio.
New Capital Deployment and Sector Bets
Firms continue to deploy capital across specialized sectors, with Bain Capital investing in climate tech firm Duravent Group pehub.com and Fort Point capitalizing on environmental services with an investment pehub.com in Boston Green to recapitalize the entity. Healthcare remains active, as Blackstone-backed Chartis acquired health tech firm Leap AI pehub.com, while B-Flexion Life Sciences portfolio companies Paratek and Radius Health completed a merger supported by a $1.3 billion financing led by Blackstone Credit & Insurance pe-insights.com. In industrial services, KKR launched a $310 million partnership pe-insights.com to expand its Allfleet platform, and ICG is backing railway maintenance provider Comcreta pehub.com to support expansion amid increased Italian rail investment.
Geographic expansion and specialized platforms are also key investment themes. TPG is launching One Aged Care pe-insights.com to target the growing elderly healthcare demand across Singapore and Malaysia, while a Singaporean buyout shop planted its first overseas office flag in Hong Kong privateequityinternational.com to bolster investment and investor relations support. On the software front, Warburg Pincus is with a deal pehub.com to invest in fintech company The Guarantors, expected to close by Q2 2026, and Main Capital-backed Cisbox and Millum merged pehub.com to build out a source-to-pay provider across the DACH and Nordic regions.
Venture Capital and The AI Focus
Venture funding remains active, particularly in the artificial intelligence space, though questions about measurable output persist; some experts argue that the best gains from AI pilots come from measuring business outputs news.crunchbase.com. In early-stage funding, Bluesky secured $100 million in Series B funding techcrunch.com following a CEO transition to scale its team and develop its ATProto infrastructure. European startups are also attracting interest: Index Ventures is backing YC alum Parallel sifted.eu with a $20 million Series A to deploy AI agents in hospitals, while EQT and the World Bank are supporting Candela sifted.eu with €30 million for a global rollout of its electric hydrofoil ferry technology. Furthermore, two Palantir veterans emerged from stealth with $30 million techcrunch.com and a Sequoia stamp of approval techcrunch.com for their workflow automation startup, Edra.
Concurrently, the UK faces concerns about talent flight, with a survey indicating that one in five UK founders plan to emigrate sifted.eu within the next year, prompting discussions on how to retain deeptech innovation. Amid this, UK and Ireland startups are seeing success through a strategy dubbed "Revenuemaxxing sifted.eu," while wellbeing marketplace Healf topped Sifted’s third UK and Ireland leaderboard sifted.eu. In fundraising news, Upvest secured $125 million sifted.eu from investors including Tencent and Sapphire Ventures, and Stripe alum Sam Gerstenzang’s funeral planning startup Meadow Memorials raised a $9 million Series A news.crunchbase.com.
LP Moves, Staffing, and Governance Insights
Institutional investors are making strategic shifts in their private equity exposure, with Nevada PERS moving away from Clearlake exposure privateequityinternational.com due to perceived conflicts of interest arising from Clearlake’s acquisition of Pathway Capital Management. The Australian sovereign wealth fund, Future Fund, has seen further senior resignations privateequityinternational.com with the departure of its joint managing directors for private equity and real assets. On the GP side, estate planning is becoming a focus, as CPAs advise on gifting portions of carried interest early for tax savings and legacy building privateequityinternational.com.
The secondaries market is witnessing specific LP behavior, as some buyers prioritize acquiring assets at a discount, mitigating the J-curve effect, and exploiting market inefficiencies secondariesinvestor.com. Personnel changes across the industry include Jennifer Roach joining Manna Tree as managing director pehub.com in the San Francisco Bay Area and Kain Capital appointing Sameer Mathur as partner pehub.com. Strategically, Van Lanschot Kempen has initiated a review pe-insights.com of its $11.5 billion liquid funds unit to explore strategic options, a move occurring while one report suggests that co-investing is experiencing a “Trafalgar moment” privateequityinternational.com, though direct LP investment willingness remains high despite high-profile shifts away from direct deals.