Private Equity 3d Briefing
×Last updated: March 25, 2026, 5:30 PM ET
Dealmaking & Sector Focus: Defense, Beauty, and Energy Lead Activity
Private equity firms demonstrated sustained interest across specialized sectors, with defense technology and beauty/wellness seeing targeted deployment. Advent is preparing to deploy pe-insights.com up to $1 billion into defense technology, mirroring a broader trend seen by firms like Blue Fire Equity pehub.com specializing in government tech, and Arlington Capital pehub.com moving to acquire defense preservation services provider Eptec Defence. In beauty and wellness, Advent expanded its portfolio pe-insights.com by agreeing to acquire a majority stake in premium brand Salt & Stone for $165 million, while Bansk Group pehub.com announced its acquisition of wellness shots provider So Good So You. Further expansion in this area includes Semcap launching a new arm pehub.com dedicated to beauty and wellness in partnership with industry veteran Vasiliki Petrou.
Large-cap infrastructure and take-private transactions remained active, including a substantial renewables deal where Brookfield and La Caisse agreed pe-insights.com to acquire Boralex in a $9.7 billion take-private transaction aimed at scaling renewable energy growth. In the industrial space, Clearlake plans to acquire pehub.com power and electric services grid Qualus from New Mountain Capital, while industrial players saw activity such as Chimney Rock scooping up pehub.com United Electronics Company (UEC), whose demand centers on supporting aircraft and ground-based vehicles. On the exit side, Generate Capital divested greenhouse operator pehub.com Equinox Growers to Taylor Farms, supporting regional food supply chains.
Fund Strategy & Secondaries Market Dynamics
Firms are actively managing portfolio lifecycles through continuation vehicles and strategic minority sales, alongside raising new capital across various mandates. TowerBrook completed a continuation fund pehub.com for the business consulting firm Eisner Amper, a transaction led by Carlyle Alp Invest and supported by Hamilton Lane. Concurrently, Cinven brought in GIC pe-insights.com as a partner, agreeing to sell a strategic minority stake in environmental science firm Envu, though Cinven will retain the majority holding pehub.com. In secondaries, activity remains high, evidenced by the University of California shopping secondariesinvestor.com a $3 billion LP portfolio for liquidity, while Mercer’s acquisition of a firm bolstered AltamarCAM's secondaries capabilities privateequityinternational.com amid heightened LP interest in liquidity solutions.
Fundraising activity showed strong appetite, particularly in growth equity and specialized mandates. Lead Edge Capital successfully raised pe-insights.com $3.5 billion for its seventh software-focused fund, and Kleiner Perkins closed news.crunchbase.com $3.5 billion across new AI-focused funds, including $2.5 billion for growth-stage investments. On the venture side, the European Investment Fund launched a €15 billion fund of funds sifted.eu intended to back 100 growth-stage VCs. Conversely, some LPs are recalibrating, with reports indicating that LPs are slashing their Africa budgets privateequityinternational.com as risk appetites dwindle in certain regions.
AI Startups Achieve Unicorn Status Amid Funding Slowdown
The intense focus on artificial intelligence continues to drive valuations for specialized software providers, even as overall startup funding shows signs of moderation. Legal tech startup Harvey confirmed an $11 billion valuation techcrunch.com following a $200 million funding round co-led by GIC and Sequoia, who are doubling down on AI-driven legal infrastructure pe-insights.com. Similarly, the AI notetaking startup Granola achieved unicorn status sifted.eu after securing $125 million in a Series C round. This high valuation activity contrasts with broader market trends, as U.S. startup funding slowed sharply news.crunchbase.com in March, primarily due to fewer massive AI megarounds closing that month. Elsewhere in deep tech, Gimlet Labs raised an $80 million Series A techcrunch.com to address the AI inference bottleneck by enabling simultaneous operation across multiple chip architectures.
Sector-Specific Acquisitions & Exits
The market saw numerous bolt-on acquisitions aimed at consolidating services across technology, infrastructure, and healthcare. In tech services, Etna Capital snapped up pehub.com digital engineering firm Code Road, while Gryphon-backed Rootstock acquired ERP provider pehub.com Ascent Solutions, which operates on the Salesforce platform. Healthcare consolidation involved GPI-backed Hopper OS acquiring clinical data firm pehub.com Efferent to enhance its operating system across the care continuum. Meanwhile, exit activity included a major healthcare sale as an investor group led by Astorg and Cinven sold clinical trial data firm pehub.com Clario to Thermo Fisher for $8.9 billion. In the industrials sector, Industrial Opportunity Partners divested retail fixtures provider pehub.com Royston to LSI for $325 million after acquiring the company in 2018.
Talent Movement & Regulatory Shifts
Personnel changes reflected firms positioning themselves competitively, particularly in advisory and investor relations roles. Jefferies reinforced its secondaries team secondariesinvestor.com by bringing on senior talent from Lazard to compete in the advisory space. Elsewhere, O2 appointed Rob Hays pehub.com as its new Head of Investor Relations, transitioning him from a managing director role at Clean Bridge Securities. Regulatory developments also bear watching, as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority finalized reforms for the pet care industry pehub.com, which will impact private equity owners in that sub-sector.