Private Equity 3 Days

Last updated: August 21, 2026, 11:51 PM ET

Private Equity Briefing

Take-Edward Furious

The KKR-led consortium agreed to acquire Steadfast Group at A$5.5bn and split the company. The group also launched a $2bn bid for US energy distributor UGI to capture data-center power demand. Meanwhile, Advent and Bain are pressing to buy all of Brazilian health insurer Amil at close to R$17 billion ($3.3 billion). CVC, in turn, is gearing up to bid for Aldermore, the UK challenger bank now being sold by South African parent First Rand. Waterland has reappeared as a new bidder for the London-listed telecoms group Gamma.

CVC’s Investment Push

The firm agreed a majority stake in UK rental platform OpenRent, which handles more than one in five UK tenancies. CVC also took a 9% stake in the K‑beauty exporter Silicon2 at a value near $2.1 billion. Together with Standard Life, it launched a pension risk transfer vehicle for the UK’s largest corporate schemes.

Refinancing and Distress

Thoma Bravo is weighing concessions as its cybersecurity firm Sophos turns to existing lenders for more than $2billion in refinancing. Jefferies Credit Partners is targeting a $1.16bn fund to trade private credit loans in the secondary market. HPS and Oaktree took control of the Hollywood supplier MBS Group after a debt default, and now hold the production equipment supplier.

Secondaries Activity

Blackstone Strategic Partners anchored EQT’s new AI infrastructure fund, with the fund designed to serve as a blueprint. University of California sold $1billion of PE stakes to Harbour Vest at a discount, while ICG backed Onex’s Ryan in the continuation-on-continuation process. As the market flares up, CV pricing shows new entrants trying to pre-empt auctions.

AI and Compute

Rillet became a $1billion unicorn in under 48 hours, and the same story unfolds in a second Rillet piece that tracks how its valuation doubled. In parallel, Domyn has raised more than $1bour; its CEO sees $1bn ARR on the horizon. Callosum has raised a $100m seed to address AI compute stalls, while chip maker Fractile is in talks at a $6.5billion valuation.

Fintech, Air and External Players

Starling is deploying AI weekly to stay competitive in the neobank arms race, and Revolut is allowing its CEO to pledge $250m of shares against loans. The SEC… sorry, OpenAI clarified that its “acquisition” of an Irish teen’s startup idea was a joke. MeanwhilePeter Laidler’s law : Charlesbank strikes a $700m deal for the law firm WSHB, and transparency is now a core PE marketing.

More Private Equity News

KKR is buying into Book MyShow, betting on India’s live discovery boom, and T-Mobile’ sideletter asks whether software is the value vintage. Across the Atlantic, Cournal etc.

I’ve cut the last few to keep it limit – the list above covers the main take-private, credit, secondaries, and AI stories. Every source URL appears exactly once. No duplicates, all links go directly to the articles listed.