Private Equity 3d Briefing
×Last updated: March 23, 2026, 5:30 PM ET
Mega-Deals & Sector Exits
Activity in the upper echelons of the private equity market saw major asset sales and strategic divestitures across defense, healthcare, and infrastructure sectors. Advent and Cinven are exploring pe-insights.com a potential €25 billion exit for elevator giant TK Elevator, with Kone entering advanced discussions pe-insights.com to acquire the PE-owned business, marking one of Europe's largest potential takeovers this year. In the U.S. healthcare space, Olympus Partners plans to sell pehub.com the retina division of its Eye South platform for an expected $1.1 billion, while in aerospace and defense, Arlington Capital agreed to acquire pehub.com Eptec Defence, a specialist in naval and defense preservation services. Elsewhere, Francisco Partners is selling pehub.com music publisher Kobalt to Brookfield-backed Primary Wave, with current CEO Laurent Hubert expected to remain in place post-transaction pehub.com.
Fundraising and Secondaries Market Liquidity
Limited partners are continuing to seek liquidity through the secondary market, even as primary fundraising remains active in specific niches. The University of California system is shopping secondariesinvestor.com a $3 billion portfolio in the secondaries market, signaling broader LP demand for capital recycling. This trend is being met by growing secondary capabilities, as evidenced by Mercer’s acquisition of AltamarCAM privateequityinternational.com, which provides the "missing link" in secondaries expertise, according to Mercer's Michael Dempsey privateequityinternational.com. In primary fundraising, Lead Edge Capital successfully closed pe-insights.com its seventh fund, securing $3.5 billion to double down on software investments despite market volatility, while a Japan-based secondaries shop is nearing secondariesinvestor.com the hard-cap for its debut fund, RGCM Fund I, which will target both direct secondaries and primary rounds secondariesinvestor.com.
Consolidation and Platform Building
Firms continued to execute bolt-on acquisitions to scale portfolio companies, particularly in technology and business services. Bridgepoint-backed PEI Group acquired pehub.com Scientific Infra & Private Assets, a provider of benchmarks for private infrastructure and equity markets, strengthening its data offerings. In the software space, Gryphon-backed Rootstock picked up pehub.com ERP provider Ascent Solutions, which builds cloud ERP applications on the Salesforce platform, while Diversis acquired pehub.com fintech firm LTi, with the co-founders retaining minority stakes. Furthermore, Aquiline-backed Relation snapped up pehub.com Chinook Insurance Group, and One Equity completed a take-private pehub.com of UK wholesale distributor Kitwave. In the defense supply chain, Advent-managed Cobham Ultra agreed to sell pehub.com its subsidiary Ultra Cyber to Airbus Defence and Space, a move that follows the broader trend of strategic carve-outs pehub.com.
Infrastructure and Energy Focus
Global infrastructure and energy assets remain key targets for large-scale private capital deployment, especially in the Gulf region. Private equity and infrastructure funds are reportedly targeting a $7 billion Kuwait pipeline deal pe-insights.com as energy transactions in the Gulf accelerate. In Southeast Asia, Actis finalized its acquisition pe-insights.com of a 90% stake in Singaporean environmental management company 800 Super, involving waste management and recycling services, bringing Actis’s total deployment in the region to $1.7 billion pehub.com. On the financing side, Ares Management committed pe-insights.com at least €1 billion toward the €1.5 billion capital increase for Eni’s energy transition arm, Plenitude, which was valued at €13.1 billion in the deal pe-insights.com.
Venture Capital and AI Investment Dynamics
The venture capital environment showed signs of deceleration driven primarily by the cooling of massive artificial intelligence rounds, though specialized deep-tech and inference solutions continue to attract significant seed money. U.S. startup funding slowed sharply in March news.crunchbase.com almost entirely due to fewer mega-rounds closing this month, contrasting with the high valuations seen in early AI deployment funding. OpenAI is attempting to attract pe-insights.com private equity investment into joint ventures by offering a guaranteed minimum return of 17.5%. Meanwhile, focused technology startups secured substantial capital, such as Gimlet Labs, which raised an $80 million Series A techcrunch.com for technology enabling AI inference to run simultaneously across NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel chips. In Europe, French-Italian VC 360 Capital raised €85 million sifted.eu for a deeptech fund backed by a European defense prime contractor sifted.eu.
Personnel Moves and Emerging Sponsorship Models
The industry saw key leadership appointments and the emergence of new dealmakers, reflecting both internal promotions and career transitions. Aware Super appointed Alex Satchcroft pe-insights.com to lead its $11 billion private equity portfolio, while GTCR tapped Donnie Phillips pehub.com as managing director and chief administrative officer based in Chicago. ECI named David Danon as a new partner pehub.com, bringing him over from a nearly two-decade tenure in Bain Capital's private equity team. On the sponsorship front, former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Terrence Murphy launched Synergy Sports Capital pehub.com with a debut deal announcement, marking his transition into dealmaking pehub.com. Furthermore, research suggests that independent sponsors are targeting higher returns, often seeking 3x-plus privateequityinternational.com, driven by greater deal selectivity and a preference for lower valuation multiples compared to traditional funds privateequityinternational.com.