Private Equity 3d Briefing
×Last updated: March 24, 2026, 1:30 AM ET
Dealmaking & Exits: A Mixed Picture
The private equity sector continues to navigate exit headwinds, with solid exit activity privateequityinternational.com in Asia-Pacific deemed insufficient to clear the overhang of mature portfolio companies, as the number of assets held for over five years rose 18% in 2025 according to Bain & Co’s latest report privateequityinternational.com. Despite this general malaise, major asset sales are proceeding: Advent and Cinven are exploring pe-insights.com a potential €25 billion exit of TK Elevator, with Kone reportedly entering advanced acquisition talks, while Francisco Partners looks to divest pehub.com music publisher Kobalt to a Brookfield-backed Primary Wave. Elsewhere in transactions, Apollo and CVC are jointly acquiring pe-insights.com a 37% minority stake in €1.75 billion German precision engineering firm Syntegon to fuel its next growth phase, and Olympus Partners is divesting pehub.com the retina business of Eye South, a US eye-care MSO, for $1.1 billion.
Sector-Specific Acquisitions & Growth Investments
Activity across specialized sectors remains brisk, particularly in defense and technology. Arlington Capital is moving to acquire pehub.com Eptec Defence, a specialist in naval and defense preservation services, signaling continued defense sector appetite. In the technology sector, Gryphon-backed Rootstock is expanding pehub.com its footprint by acquiring Salesforce platform ERP provider Ascent Solutions, and Diversis is scooping up pehub.com fintech firm LTi, with LTi’s co-founders retaining minority stakes and involvement. Furthermore, Actis finalized its deployment pe-insights.com in Southeast Asia, acquiring a 90% stake in Singaporean environmental management company 800 Super for an undisclosed sum, following up on its commitment to the region reaching $1.7 billion pe-insights.com.
Fundraising & Capital Markets
While US startup funding slowed sharply in March news.crunchbase.com, largely due to a dearth of massive AI megarounds, targeted fundraising efforts by specialized managers are proving successful. London-based Air Street Capital closed a substantial techcrunch.com $232 million Fund III, positioning itself as one of Europe’s largest solo VCs focused on early-stage European and North American AI firms techcrunch.com. Growth equity firm Lead Edge secured $3.5 billion pe-insights.com for its seventh fund dedicated to software investments, demonstrating strong LP confidence in that segment. In the secondaries market, which is attracting heightened interest for liquidity solutions, Mercer’s recent acquisition of AltamarCAM privateequityinternational.com was explicitly driven by the desire to bolster secondaries capabilities, a sentiment echoed by the University of California shopping secondariesinvestor.com a $3 billion LP portfolio for liquidity in the secondary market. A debut Japanese secondaries shop, RGCM Fund I, is nearing its hard-cap secondariesinvestor.com with flexibility for direct secondaries and primary investments.
Venture Capital & Emerging Tech Focus
Venture capital is demonstrating a clear strategic pivot toward foundational AI infrastructure and niche market mechanisms. Gimlet Labs successfully raised techcrunch.com an $80 million Series A round to support its technology enabling AI inference across diverse chip architectures, including NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel techcrunch.com. In yet another sign of AI monetization, OpenAI is reportedly offering pe-insights.com private equity firms a guaranteed minimum return of 17.5% to participate in its joint venture initiatives. Complementing this focus, the CEOs of rival prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket are backing techcrunch.com a new $35 million VC fund, 5(c) Capital, specifically targeting startups supporting this burgeoning prediction market category. Meanwhile, deeptech investment continues in Europe, with French-Italian firm 360 Capital raising €85 million sifted.eu for a deeptech fund supported by a European defense prime contractor.
Personnel Moves & Independent Sponsors
The private equity industry saw several key leadership appointments and the launch of new specialized vehicles. Aware Super appointed Alex Satchcroft pe-insights.com to lead its $11 billion private equity portfolio, marking a significant governance change for the large Australian LP. In firm appointments, GTCR tapped Donnie Phillips pehub.com as Managing Director and Chief Administrative Officer in Chicago, and ECI named David Danon pehub.com as a new partner following nearly two decades at Bain Capital’s PE team. On the entrepreneurial front, former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Terrence Murphy launched Synergy Sports Capital pehub.com with an immediate debut deal, years after his NFL career ended prematurely pehub.com. Furthermore, research indicates that independent sponsors, driven by greater deal selectivity and lower valuation multiples privateequityinternational.com, consistently target higher returns—often 3x or more—than traditional funds.
Energy Infrastructure & Corporate Strategy
Interest remains high in large-scale energy infrastructure assets in the Gulf region, with private equity and infrastructure funds targeting pe-insights.com a $7 billion Kuwait pipeline deal. Concurrently, major energy players are restructuring assets; Ares Management committed pe-insights.com at least €1 billion toward a capital increase in Eni’s renewables unit, Plenitude, valuing the entity at €13.1 billion. On the corporate activity front, One Equity completed a take-private pehub.com transaction for UK wholesale distributor Kitwave, while portfolio company activity included Bridgepoint-backed PEI Group acquiring pehub.com benchmark provider Scientific Infra & Private Assets to bolster its infrastructure data offerings. Exit dynamics are also shifting, with advisors noting that longer sellside preparation and partial sales pehub.com are becoming more common due to exit difficulties, exemplified by Advent-backed Cobham Ultra agreeing to sell its Ultra Cyber division to Airbus Defence and Space pehub.com.