Private Equity 3 Days

Last updated: August 11, 2026, 5:39 PM ET

Top Headlines

Apollo landed a £5.7bn recommended offer for easy Jet in a landmark European take-private. The firm's Apollo Sports Capital also invested $2.6bn in Yankee Global Enterprises, parent of the New York Yankees. KKR took a strategic stake in Crowe Advisory. Bernhard Capital agreed to take Bowman Consulting private for $1bn. I Squared Capital agreed to acquire oOh!media for $733m enterprise value. Thoma Bravo completed its $466m take-private of Kneat. New Mountain Capital will acquire fire safety provider Jensen Hughes from Gryphon. HIG Capital completed its acquisition of UK engineering firm Phoenix ME. Amberjack Capital closed the carve-out of Flowserve’s PMV Automation group.

Fundraising & Institutional Capital

Brookfield raised a record $77bn in Q2, led by private equity. StepStone surpassed $20bn in private wealth AUM, with its SPRING vehicle attracting nearly $1.7bn in subscriptions. Scaleup Europe, a public-private fund targeting $5.7bn, made its first investment in satellite company ICEYE. Exponent closed a single-asset continuation vehicle of about $867m for H&MV Engineering. Monogram completed a continuation fund for beverage company Mountaintop, led by Apollo S3. Hollyport sold a passive stake of approximately 25% to Blue Owl.

Healthcare & Professional Services

CHG Healthcare acquired medical staffing firm Krewe Anesthesia. Phase 1 Equity, backed by Dune Glass, snapped up a North Dakota orthodontic practice. Quad-C invested in Paradigm, an occupational safety platform formed from three companies. Provectus Capital made its Romanian debut by acquiring a majority stake in Seatbelt Consulting. VSS closed a minority stake in Cordoba, betting on infrastructure transformation. Baymark acquired Meal Prep Sunday, its 66th acquisition. Trinity Hunt backed management consulting firm Fisher Management Partners. Providence sold live entertainment firm ATG, which operates 70 venues, to Mari.

Industrial & Manufacturing

Alro Steel landed a majority investment from Lindsay Goldberg, with the Glick family retaining a significant stake. THL Partners invested in pavement maintenance firm Pave Masters. Altamont-backed Big Top Manufacturing acquired Coast to Coast Contracting. Vance Street-backed Keltec acquired AJF Filtration. New Heritage invested in manufacturer Power Rail for the global rail industry. CCMP Growth-backed Airo acquired specialty plumbing and HVAC firm Legrande’s Enterprises. Godspeed-backed BNP Group acquired cost management firm US Cost Incorporated from Schneider S.E. Clearlake-backed Prime Source Brands acquired Starborn Industries.

Technology & AI

DeepMind shakeup tests the UK’s AI ambitions, and the lab's future has become critical for the country. Monashees opened a San Francisco office to bridge Latin America’s startup scene into Silicon Valley. Bob Morse argues that AI is a business change requiring redesigned workflows, not just a technology layer. Physical AI startups are being watched by VCs. First Momentum highlights underrated deeptech areas. NVIDIA is lining up partnerships with Apollo, Blackstone, Brookfield, and KKR in a $500bn move to make compute an asset class. A wave of major AI IPOs could return significant liquidity to LPs and fuel a new venture fundraising cycle. King’s Cross, once a notorious red-light district, is now a top AI hub. Nabla's new CEO Brian Manning says he is not here to be acquired. Unicorn creation surged in H1 2026, with 195 new unicorns beating 2025’s total.

Regional Markets

European HVAC market is attracting private equity, with Exponent closing a €750m CV for H&MV and Nvidia planning partnerships. Spanish mid-market is drawing dealmakers due to family-owned companies approaching succession. South Summit 2026 highlighted three trends shaping European tech. CPP Investments committed $143m for a 49.5% interest in two Hilton hotels in Brazil. Korea's Employment Insurance Fund seeks to commit 120bn won to blind-pool PE/VC funds. Plymouth County Retirement Association issued an RFP for a North American private equity manager.

Dealflow, Secondaries & Trends

Private equity dealflow had its worst Q2 since 2020, with TMT seeing the biggest drop. Ardian co-CEO Mark Benedetti details mispricing opportunities, particularly in European assets and secondaries. Mark Benedetti further elaborated on seeing more European families seeking partners to expand internationally. Secondaries divergence shows continuation fund activity outstripping traditional secondaries. Side Letter: TPAI? covers SWFs leading AI investing and PE talent moving to Spain.