Private Equity 3 Days

Last updated: August 12, 2026, 11:40 PM ET

Fundraising

Brookfield Asset Management gathered a record $77bn of capital in the second quarter, drawing primarily on its private equity, infrastructure and credit franchises. Accel raised $800m for its ninth early-stage Europe fund, while also closing an oversubscribed $550M India fund within weeks. StepStone surpassed $20bn in private wealth AUM; its SPRING vehicle attracted nearly $1.7bn in subscriptions during the quarter. Scaleup Europe, a public-private fund with a $5.7bn target, made its first investment by backing Finnish satellite company ICEYE. Thrive Holdings, backed by OpenAI, raised $2bn at a $12bn valuation from SoftBank and others for enterprise AI.

HarbourVest revealed deployment strategy for its $4.75bn flagship fund, while its co-investment fund HCF VII targets transformative trends in AI and healthcare. Lovable raised $400m backed by the EU’s Scaleup Fund. ClearJet raised a $25m Series B from Edison Partners to build its “Uber of Cargo” AI logistics platform.

Mega Deals & Infrastructure

Apollo, Blackstone, Brookfield, and KKR lined up behind NVIDIA in a $500bn move to make compute an asset class. Yankee Global Enterprises (parent of the New York Yankees) inked a $2.6bn capital infusion from Apollo Sports Capital. CPP Investments committed ~$143m for a 49.5% interest in two Hilton hotels in Brazil in partnership with HSI. I Squared Capital agreed to a $733m take-private of oOh!media at a 100% premium.

Goldman Sachs agreed to acquire ETFs provider Neos Investments for $2.25bn (which manages $30bn in assets). KKR took a strategic stake in Crowe's advisory business. Lindsay Goldberg landed a majority investment in metals distributor Alro Steel, with the Glick family retaining a significant stake.

Take-Privates & Public-to-Private

Thoma Bravo completed a $466m take-private of validation software firm Kneat. Bernhard Capital will take-private Bowman Consulting Group for $1bn, including a 35-day go-shop period. HIG Capital completed its acquisition of UK engineering firm Phoenix ME. Astorg completed the buyout of Thermo Fisher’s microbiology business.

Secondaries & Continuation Vehicles

Exponent closed a single-asset continuation vehicle of ~$867m for H&MV Engineering, tapping Apollo, Pantheon, and SQ Capital. Monogram completed a continuation fund for beverage company Mountaintop with Apollo S3 as lead investor. Hollyport sold a 25% passive stake to Blue Owl but maintained independence. US investors raised questions over credit secondaries valuations. Ardian co-CEO Mark Benedetti detailed mispricing opportunities in European assets and secondaries.

Sector Deals: Healthcare & Life Sciences

PE-backed CHG Healthcare acquired medical staffing firm Krewe Anesthesia. Mountaingate exited healthcare commercialization platform Relevate. Gridiron invested in life sciences back-office solutions provider van den Boom & Associates. Medical education presents an opportunity for private equity as the healthcare workforce gap widens.

Sector Deals: Industrial & Manufacturing

One Rock will sell environmental services firm Enviro Serve to Clean Harbors for $470m. New Heritage invested in manufacturer Power Rail, which serves the global rail industry. Altamont-backed Big Top Manufacturing acquired Coast to Coast Contracting. Vance Street-backed Keltec snapped up AJF Filtration. Amberjack Capital closed the carve-out of Flowserve’s PMV Automation group.

Sector Deals: Technology & Software

Index Ventures is in talks to lead a $500m round for a new AI lab from a Deep Mind researcher. Uforce, a drone startup, targets upwards of $4bn valuation in a new raise. Monashees is expanding from Latin America to Silicon Valley. Fitness startup funding is rebounding, with investors prioritizing AI and data over treadmills; H1 totalled over $3.6bn.

Sector Deals: Food & Beverage

Bain, Platinum Equity, and Monogram lead recent beverage deals. Baymark acquired healthy meal prep company Meal Prep Sunday (its 66th acquisition). Western Botanicals (backed by Riverside) invested in dietary supplement developer Yellow Emperor.

Sector Deals: Financial & Professional Services

TDR Capital is exploring a sale of Arrow Global, the British private credit manager it took private five years ago. Clearview-backed Capitol Services acquired corporate services provider Wolz. Godspeed-backed BNP Group acquired cost management firm US Cost Inc. from Schneider S.E. Trinity Hunt backed management consulting firm Fisher Management Partners.

Sector Deals: Energy & Infrastructure

Solar energy draws private equity interest; Providence agreed to sell live entertainment business ATG to Mari. Private equity plays in the growing European HVAC market. VSS closed a minority stake in Cordoba, betting on infrastructure transformation. CVC Credit priced $550m Apidos LVIII CLO, its fourth new issue of the year.

Sector Deals: Other

Reverence Capital-backed Sunstar acquired insurance agency RJR Faribo. New Mountain will acquire fire safety provider Jensen Hughes from Gryphon. Clearlake-backed PrimeSource Brands acquired Starborn Industries (specialty building products). CCMP Growth-backed Airo acquired plumbing and HVAC firm Legrande's Enterprises. Quad-C invested in occupational safety platform Paradigm.

Sector Deals: Orthodontics & Healthcare Stafing

DuneGlass-backed Phase 1 Equity acquired a North Dakota orthodontic practice. Provectus Capital made its Romanian debut with the buy-out of Seatbelt Consulting (occupational health and safety).

AI, Deeptech & VC Trends

Deeptech founders are dictating term sheets in 2026. First Momentum highlights the most underrated deeptech areas. 17 physical AI startups to watch according to VCs. 16 energy startups to watch in Europe. AI is a business change, not a technology change, argues Bob Morse of High Alpha.

Regional Focus: Spain & UK

Entrepreneurial ecosystem draws dealmakers to the Spanish mid-market. PE talent is beginning to rain down on Spain. DeepMind’s future has become critical for the UK’s AI ambitions; a shakeup tests those ambitions.

Regional Focus: Latin America & Asia

Monashees is opening a Silicon Valley presence. Korea’s Employment Insurance Fund seeks to commit 120bn Korean won to blind-pool PE/VC funds for 2026.

Pension & LP Activity

LA Fire and Police Pension reaffirmed conviction in lower mid-market and emerging managers. Ex-APG PE veteran John Renkema offers insight on how pensions can better assess performance. Plymouth County Retirement Association issued an RFP for a North American private equity manager.

Market Trends & Outlook

Private equity dealflow had its worst Q2 since 2020. Global new unicorn counts in H1 2026 have already surpassed 2025’s totals (195 new unicorns). The biggest consequence of an AI IPO is the liquidity it returns to LPs, fueling a new venture cycle. South Summit 2026 highlighted three trends shaping European tech.

Other Notable Items

Lessons from Ukraine on keeping up morale among tech workers. Ex-LocalGlobe trio is plotting a new VC firm. Nabla’s new CEO Brian Manning says he’s “not here to be acquired.” Apollo Sports also invested in Yankee Global Enterprises as mentioned; New Heritage backed Power Rail. THL Partners invested in pavement maintenance firm Pave Masters; Northern Lakes Capital exited.