Private Equity 3 Days

Last updated: May 30, 2026, 5:33 PM ET

AI & Tech Infrastructure

Anthropic raised $65bn in a Series H megaround that dominated an otherwise sluggish week for late-stage financing, underscoring how generative AI has consolidated capital around a handful of winners even as megarounds slow. The round coincides with plans by Apollo and Blackstone to syndicate roughly $36bn in private credit to fund the company's chip build-out, one of the largest debt deals on record and a sign that buyout credit arms are now central to Silicon Valley infrastructure. AI chipmaker Groq seeks $650M as it pivots from hardware toward inference services, while EQT partnered with Google Cloud to roll out agentic AI across more than 300 portfolio companies, treating generative tools as an operational necessity rather than an experiment.

Healthcare & Business Services

Bain Capital agreed to sell Estia Health to Stonepeak roughly 18 months after buying the Australian aged-care provider, underscoring an appetite among infrastructure-style buyers for defensive healthcare assets. Frazier Healthcare acquired Altruix, a behavioral health pharmacy serving patients with severe mental illness and substance use disorders, from Wind Rose as buyout firms hunt for recession-resistant niches. In media services, Advaya Capital carved out Comscore Movies from parent Comscore to capture box-office analytics demand, while Axum Capital backed VitaHustle, the Kevin Hart and Ron Everline nutrition brand founded in 2022, wagering on direct-to-consumer wellness trends.

Deals & Exits

Exit channels showed tentative signs of life across sectors and geographies. MidOcean Partners agreed to sell housing data platform Zonda to CoStar Group, handing founder Jeff Meyers a strategic landing spot for the analytics business. KKR sold Circor's unit for $2.55bn to a strategic buyer while power investor Arc Light Capital sold for $1.05bn to Digital Bridge, marrying energy infrastructure with surging data center demand. In the mid-market, Prospect Capital unloaded Valley Electric to MYR Group for $328M, with closing expected by July 2026, offering a rare liquidity event as exit timelines stretch and distributions dry up.

Fundraising & Liquidity Solutions

Institutional investors and buyout owners are engineering novel ways to unlock cash amid a prolonged drought. BCI launched a dedicated Capital Solutions Group within its private equity unit to extend financing to GPs paralyzed by a shortage of exits and heavy unfunded commitments. Littlejohn completed a continuation fund for commercial building services firm Valcourt Group, with Carlyle Alp Invest leading the vehicle as secondaries buyers grow more comfortable with synthetic liquidity. In fundraising, Actis secured $2.5bn at first close toward a $6bn flagship energy fund, even as Canadian PE fundraising slumped in 2025 despite record new investment, illustrating the widening gap between commitments and capital calls. Meanwhile, HSG emerged as the frontrunner to acquire Blackstone's 45% stake in Leica Camera.

Credit & Regional Expansion

Debt platforms and regional heads are scaling up to fill gaps left by traditional lenders. Oaktree partnered with Pantheon to funnel up to €1bn into scaling its European direct lending platform, capturing demand from mid-market sponsors shut out of syndicated markets. In Asia, EQT appointed Nicholas Macksey and Hari Gopalakrishnan as co-heads of Private Capital Asia to deploy a record $15.6bn regional fund. KKR opened a Milan office to deepen its Italian localization strategy, while Quad-C tapped Ali Shams as managing director from HIG Capital's technology operating bench. Transom appointed Jeff Haight as an operating partner to steer value creation initiatives, reflecting a broader industry shift from financial engineering to hands-on operational execution.

Sector Bets & Portfolio Strategy

Buyout firms are sharpening sector theses and overhauling portfolio infrastructure. A cluster of shops including AEA Investors, Bridgepoint and Kohlberg are pursuing oncology assets across six disclosed transactions, banking on resilient demand for cancer-care services. In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia's $1.15trn sovereign wealth fund is centralizing supply chain data using AI across its private equity portfolio and rethinking procurement strategies amid geopolitical instability. Apollo acquired a minority stake in residential HVAC firm Apex Service Partners alongside existing investor Alpine Investors, which is simultaneously selling a minority slice at a roughly $10bn valuation, testing whether service-sector multiples still attract deep-pocketed institutional buyers.