Private Equity 3 Days

Last updated: May 23, 2026, 5:30 PM ET

Deal Flow & Sector Targeting Frontenac prepares to sell its industrial CV asset as co‑lead investors Churchill Asset Management and 50 South Capital seek to extend the fund’s exposure to manufacturing, while Charterhouse, Iron Path and Revelar Capital pursue pain‑management platforms and PE‑backed firms line up five additional pain‑care transactions signal a sharpening focus on high‑margin health‑service niches. The parallel push into aerospace is highlighted by One Bow River’s investment in VTOL maker PteroDynamics, underscoring private equity’s appetite for defense‑adjacent technology amid rising geopolitical spending.

Strategic Shifts & Fundraising Partners Group’s Todd Miller outlines a yield‑focused “total‑return” strategy for mature heavy‑industry assets as firms hunt white‑space beyond growth‑only mandates, a theme echoed in StepStone’s fee‑structure tweak for its flagship secondaries funds that lowers early‑period fees before reinstating them later to align manager incentives with longer‑term LP horizons. Meanwhile, ICG postpones the launch of its mid‑market Strategic Equity fund after raising $11bn in the prior vehicle, reflecting caution as capital markets tighten.

Talent & Advisory Moves Capitol Meridian adds former U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy as operating partner to steer defense‑sector investments and portfolio value creation, while HIG Capital brings Brian Dutzar into its private‑wealth management team to deepen client‑facing capabilities. These appointments illustrate a broader trend of PE firms importing senior public‑sector and banking talent to bolster sector expertise and fundraising pipelines.

Technology‑Enabled Portfolio Enhancements Accel‑KKR backs asset‑operations platform UpKeep to accelerate its AI‑native vision for predictive maintenance, and EQT’s Per Franzén stresses an “urgent” rollout of AI across portfolio companies as firms seek to expand the investable universe through code‑level transformations. Complementing this, Convective Capital raises an $85 million fund to broaden from fire‑tech to disaster‑resilience solutions, signaling confidence that climate‑risk mitigation will generate scalable, tech‑driven returns.

Secondary Market Activity & Exits CPP Investments offloads a $2.9bn private‑equity portfolio to Blackstone and Ardian, a landmark secondary transaction that reallocates legacy exposure toward active managers, while Pantheon’s debut CFO opens secondaries access for constrained insurers illustrates growing demand for bespoke liquidity solutions. In Europe, StepStone defends evergreen pricing in a side‑letter discussion and Macquarie highlights the “tremendous tailwind” behind infra secondaries growth, confirming that both primary and secondary markets are adapting to longer hold periods and tighter distribution rates.