Private Equity News

A senior leveraged finance banker at Jefferies has departed after around a year to join private equity firm Lone Star Funds.

Europe’s buyout industry shifted towards supporting fewer but larger portfolio company buy-and-build acquisitions in the first six months of 2024, according to data from the Centre for Private Equity and MBO Research (CMBOR). “With the buyout market mounting a recovery in the first six months of the year and many portfolio companies having largely weathered the worst of the economic headwinds, it’s unsurprising that there’s been a commensurate drop off in buy-and-build deal volume as firms switch focus to once again executing new platform deals,” said Christiian Marriott, head of investor relations at Equistone Partners Europe, which supported the research. “The data highlights the evolving nature of the buy-and-build market,” added Professor Kevin Amess, director of CMBOR at Nottingham University Business School. “While the volume of deals is down, a natural consequence of firms turning attention back towards executing buyouts, the considerable increase in aggregate value is indicative of the industry’s enduring faith in buy-and-build as a tried and tested mechanism for creating value.”

Asset managers specialising in private markets are expecting bonuses as high as 105% of salary this year as variable compensation across the sector is set to rise after a dire 2023.

KKR is mulling whether to open an office in Milan, potentially joining a flurry of buyout shops that are snapping up space in the northern Italian city.

Asterion Industrial Partners has held the first close of its Fund III, raising €1.5bn in commitments. The mid-market European infrastructure investment firm has reached 50% of its €3.2bn target after five months in the market. Headquartered in Madrid and with a presence in London, the firm was set up in 2018 by three former KKR executives. Jesus Olmos, previously infrastructure global co-head at KKR, Guido Mitrani, ex-KKR infrastructure director, and Winnie Wutte, previously a director in KKR’s client and partner group in Europe, established the business, which has since raised and fully invested two funds. More below 👇

KKR’s Mattia Caprioli and Philipp Freise say ‘a new age of leadership’ has arrived as the private equity giant celebrates 25 years of investing in Europe. Read this month's Big Interview below 👇

Cash-strapped investors have been clamouring for liquidity. It seems that their private equity managers are starting to get the message. Signs that buyout shops are returning more capital to their limited partners have emerged in new findings from Rede Partners LLP. Liquidity has been top of mind for LPs over the last twelve months and confidence in distributions has now rebounded to a two-year high.

Sanofi's consumer healthcare business, hotel group B&B Hotels and data centre operator Nabiax are among the European companies being looked at by private equity firms in this week's deal pipeline 👇

Tyler Dickson, who was installed as sole head of Citi’s dealmaking unit in a shake-up last year, will join Blackstone overseeing its institutional client solutions team within its credit and insurance business, the firm said in a statement.

Astorg has closed a €1.4bn continuation fund for Normec, a European provider of testing, inspection, and certification services. The Normec continuation fund has been capitalised by lead investors CVC Secondary Partners, Pantheon, Lexington Partners, and Eurazeo, alongside additional investors including sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, asset managers, and family offices. Jefferies and Lazard acted as joint financial advisers, while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Arendt & Medernach served as Astorg’s legal counsel.