Private Equity 8 Hours

Last updated: May 20, 2026, 5:30 AM ET

Healthcare‑Focused Consolidation

Combined GHO‑CBC deal created a $21bn healthcare investment platform, the largest specialist manager of its kind, after London‑based GHO Capital and Singapore‑headquartered CBC Group agreed to merge. The co‑founders, Mike Mortimer and Fu Wei, will jointly steer the new entity as co‑CEOs, signalling a unified leadership model intended to accelerate cross‑border deal flow in a market where private‑equity capital has surged past $200bn this year. Analysts note that the merger not only pools deep sector expertise but also aligns fund‑raising pipelines, positioning the combined firm to capture a projected 12% annual growth in global healthcare M&A volumes through 2028 .

Growth‑Stage Funding Activity

Primer’s $100 m Series C underscored robust investor appetite for fintech infrastructure, with Balderton backing the London‑based payments platform to expand its API suite across Europe and North America. The round values Primer at roughly $500 m, reflecting a 45% valuation uplift since its Series B close twelve months ago. Meanwhile, the Sifted 100 ranking highlighted Southern Europe’s fastest‑growing startups, many of which have attracted private‑equity minority stakes, reinforcing the region’s emergence as a hotbed for early‑stage scaling. Complementing this trend, stealth founders’ projects continued to attract undisclosed capital, suggesting that limited‑partner allocations are increasingly directed toward concealed, high‑potential ventures that could later feed into larger buy‑out pipelines.