Private Equity 3d Briefing
×Last updated: March 24, 2026, 12:30 AM ET
Fundraising & Capital Deployment
Several significant fund closures and new mandates underscore continued, albeit selective, capital deployment across the private markets. Lead Edge Capital successfully raised pe-insights.com its seventh fund, securing $3.5 billion dedicated to software deals, while London-based Air Street Capital closed techcrunch.com a substantial $232 million Fund III, positioning itself as one of Europe’s largest solo general partners focused on early-stage European and North American Artificial Intelligence ventures as detailed in their announcement sifted.eu. In a related move showing specialized focus, the venture firm 5(c) Capital secured backing techcrunch.com from CEOs of rival prediction markets, intending to back startups in that burgeoning category, even as overall US startup funding slowed sharply in March news.crunchbase.com, largely due to fewer monumental AI megarounds closing.
Exits & Portfolio Transactions
The exit environment remains challenging across Asia, even as large strategic sales move forward in developed markets. Bain & Company research indicates that the overhang of older assets persists privateequityinternational.com, with the number of Asia-Pacific portfolio companies held for over five years increasing by 18% in 2025. Despite this backdrop, major divestitures are proceeding; Advent and Cinven are exploring pe-insights.com a potential €25 billion exit of TK Elevator, with Kone reportedly entering advanced talks for the acquisition. Elsewhere, Francisco Partners is offloading pehub.com music publisher Kobalt to Brookfield-backed Primary Wave, a transaction where management is expected to remain intact, while Olympus Partners seeks to sell pehub.com the retina business unit of Eye South for $1.1 billion. Further divestitures include Sovereign selling Knovia pehub.com after seeing its revenue more than quadruple under its ownership, and Advent portfolio company Cobham Ultra agreeing to sell Ultra Cyber pehub.com to Airbus Defence and Space.
Sector-Specific Deals: Tech, Defense & Infrastructure
Private investment interest remains concentrated in AI enablement and specialized defense contractors, alongside major infrastructure plays. Gimlet Labs, which developed technology allowing AI to run techcrunch.com across a wide array of chips including NVIDIA and AMD, successfully closed an $80 million Series A round to tackle the inference bottleneck. In the defense sector, Arlington Capital plans to acquire pehub.com Eptec Defence, a provider of naval and defense preservation services. Meanwhile, in energy infrastructure, private equity and infrastructure funds are targeting a $7 billion Kuwait pipeline deal pe-insights.com as Gulf energy transactions advance. Additionally, Apollo and CVC are jointly acquiring pe-insights.com a 37% minority stake in €1.75 billion packaging firm Syntegon to support its next growth phase.
Secondaries and Institutional Investor Activity
Liquidity needs are driving notable activity in the secondaries market, prompting institutional managers to seek asset sales. The University of California system is currently marketing secondariesinvestor.com a $3 billion portfolio of limited partner commitments in an effort to realize capital. This trend toward secondary sales is being mirrored by service providers, as Mercer’s acquisition of AltamarCAM privateequityinternational.com was specifically targeted to bolster its secondary capabilities amid elevated investor demand for liquidity solutions. Furthermore, the Japanese market is seeing maturation, with a local secondaries shop set to close secondariesinvestor.com its debut fund near the hard-cap, offering flexibility for direct secondaries and primary funding rounds.
Dealmaking & Firm Expansion
Activity across mid-market and growth segments shows firms bolstering their capabilities through acquisitions and internal promotions. Diversis is acquiring pehub.com fintech firm LTi, with LTi’s co-founders electing to retain minority stakes and remain involved. In the enterprise software space, Gryphon-backed Rootstock picked up pehub.com ERP provider Ascent Solutions, which operates on the Salesforce platform. On the strategic advisory front, Bridgepoint-backed PEI Group acquired pehub.com Scientific Infra & Private Assets, a global index and benchmark provider for private markets. Leadership changes also occurred, with GTCR appointing Donnie Phillips pehub.com as managing director and chief administrative officer in its Chicago office, and ECI naming David Danon a new partner pehub.com after nearly two decades at Bain Capital.
Geographic & Sectoral Deployments
Actis continues its focused deployment in Southeast Asia, having finalized the acquisition pe-insights.com of a 90% stake in Singapore-based environmental management firm 800 Super, bringing its total deployment in the region to $1.7 billion across waste and recycling services pehub.com. In Europe, One Equity completed a take-private transaction to acquire UK wholesale distributor Kitwave pehub.com, which supplies food and consumables to the foodservice sector. Furthermore, the interest in AI-related ventures extends beyond startups, with OpenAI reportedly offering pe-insights.com private equity firms a guaranteed minimum return of 17.5% to participate in its joint venture push. Meanwhile, Ares Management committed at least €1 billion pe-insights.com toward the €13.1 billion valuation deal involving Eni’s subsidiary Plenitude as part of a €1.5 billion capital increase.
Emerging Players & Specialized Focus
New entrants and specialized strategies are gaining traction, often focusing on areas overlooked by larger vehicles. Research suggests that independent sponsors, driven by greater deal selectivity and a desire for lower valuation multiples, routinely target returns exceeding 3x privateequityinternational.com, which is higher than typical traditional fund outcomes. A former professional athlete, Terrence Murphy, unveiled pehub.com his new firm, Synergy Sports Capital, alongside a debut deal, marking his entry into dealmaking two decades after his NFL career ended pehub.com. In deeptech, French-Italian VC 360 Capital raised €85 million for a deeptech fund sifted.eu that secured backing from a European defense prime contractor, while a Parisian underground quantum lab sifted.eu illustrates the hidden R&D investment occurring across Europe.