Private Equity 3d Briefing – Mar 23, 2026

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Last updated: March 23, 2026, 11:30 PM ET

Dealmaking & Exits: M&A Activity Heats Up

Private equity deal execution saw mixed signals, with some major portfolio sales advancing while exit activity in Asia lags. Advent and Cinven are exploring a potential €25 billion exit pe-insights.com of TK Elevator, with Kone entering advanced acquisition talks for the asset, marking a potentially transformative transaction for the elevator manufacturer. In the U.S., Arlington Capital agreed to acquire Eptec Defence pehub.com, a specialist provider of naval and defense preservation services, while Francisco Partners intends to sell music publisher Kobalt pehub.com to Brookfield-backed Primary Wave, with current management expected to remain in place. Elsewhere, Olympus Partners is marketing the retina business of EyeSouth pehub.com for approximately $1.1 billion, signaling continued divestment in healthcare services. Further illustrating portfolio pruning, Sovereign successfully sold Knovia pehub.com after the education firm more than quadrupled its revenue under its ownership via organic growth exceeding 15% annually and two strategic acquisitions.

Activity spanned several key sectors, with defense, enterprise software, and environmental services seeing significant PE engagement. Apollo, alongside CVC, secured a 37% minority stake pe-insights.com in the €1.75 billion packaging firm Syntegon to support its next growth phase, while Actis finalized the acquisition of a 90% stake pe-insights.com in Singapore-based environmental manager 800 Super for an undisclosed sum related to its $1.7 billion Southeast Asia deployment strategy. The software space saw several add-on deals, including Gryphon-backed Rootstock acquiring ERP provider Ascent Solutions pehub.com, which offers cloud ERP on the Salesforce platform, and Diversis scooping up fintech firm LTi pehub.com. On the energy front, infrastructure funds are reportedly targeting a $7 billion Kuwait pipeline deal pe-insights.com, underlining ongoing infrastructure interest in the Gulf region. Furthermore, Ares committed at least €1 billion pe-insights.com as part of a €1.5 billion capital increase in Eni’s subsidiary Plenitude, valuing the energy transition firm at €13.1 billion.

The fundraising environment saw significant capital being deployed, particularly in specialized technology niches, even as overall venture funding slowed. London-based Air Street Capital closed a substantial $232 million Fund III techcrunch.com, positioning itself as one of Europe’s largest solo venture capital firms focused on early-stage AI companies in Europe and North America. Growth equity firm Lead Edge Capital successfully raised $3.5 billion for its seventh fund pe-insights.com, dedicated primarily to software investments. In a novel approach, a new venture firm, 5(c) Capital, secured $35 million in backing techcrunch.com from CEOs of rival prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket to support startups in that burgeoning category. Concurrently, institutional investors sought liquidity; the University of California initiated the process to sell a $3 billion LP portfolio secondariesinvestor.com in the secondaries market, reflecting ongoing LP demand for capital recycling.

Heightened interest in securing liquidity drove strategic moves in the secondaries arena, while operational improvements remain a focus for exiting sponsors. Mercer’s acquisition of a stake in AltamarCAM privateequityinternational.com was driven by the latter's attractive secondaries capabilities at a time when investor liquidity needs are elevated. Furthermore, a Japanese secondaries shop is preparing to close its debut fund secondariesinvestor.com near its hard-cap, providing flexibility for direct secondary investments and primary funding rounds. On the operational side, Bain & Co.’s latest report indicated that the overhang of long-held portfolio companies in APAC worsened privateequityinternational.com, with the count of assets held for over five years increasing by 18% in 2025. Meanwhile, research suggests that independent sponsors often target returns exceeding 3x privateequityinternational.com, achieving this through greater deal selectivity and a preference for lower valuation multiples compared to traditional fund deals.

The race for AI infrastructure and talent intensified across the private markets spectrum. OpenAI is reportedly offering private equity firms a guaranteed minimum return of 17.5% pe-insights.com to lure capital into its artificial intelligence joint venture initiatives. Startups aiming to solve computational bottlenecks are attracting major funding, such as Gimlet Labs, which raised an $80 million Series A techcrunch.com for technology enabling AI inference across multiple chip architectures simultaneously, including NVIDIA and AMD. Personnel changes reflected the sector's maturity, with Aware Super appointing Alex Satchcroft to lead its $11 billion private equity portfolio pe-insights.com. In executive appointments, GTCR tapped Donnie Phillips as its new managing director and chief administrative officer pehub.com, based in the firm's Chicago headquarters, while ECI named David Danon as a new partner pehub.com following two decades with the private equity team at Bain Capital.

Specialized technology and defense-related investments continued to draw attention from both traditional PE and specialized venture arms. French-Italian VC 360 Capital raised €85 million for a deeptech fund sifted.eu that secured backing from a European defense prime contractor. This focus on defense tech is mirrored by the exit of Ultra Cyber, where Advent-backed Cobham Ultra agreed to sell the business pehub.com to Airbus Defence and Space, a transaction that follows West Monroe’s observation that exit difficulties are leading to more partial sales and longer sell-side preparations. Separately, the emergence of new dealmakers includes former NFL wide receiver Terrence Murphy, who launched Synergy Sports Capital pehub.com and announced a debut deal, twenty years after an injury cut short his professional playing career.