H/Advisors Private Capital Wrap-Up 07 February 2025
Mergermarket has released its Global and Regional M&A Rankings 2024.?
We’re proud to share that the H/Advisors global network ranks 5th worldwide for both deal count and value. This includes H/Advisors Maitland ranking 4th for EMEA by deal count and H/Advisors Abernathy 4th for Americas by value.?
WORTH A READ??
Europe?
With the stakes surrounding the global AI transformation rising, and the U.S. and China fighting for dominance through OpenAI's potential $40 billion fundraise and DeepSeek's rise to fame, TechCrunch highlights a French AI report which sheds light on the AI startup boom in Europe ahead of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit next week. Created by growth investment firm Revaia, early-stage VC firm Galion.exe, and advisory firm Chausson Partners, the report reveals that AI companies accounted for approximately 20% of all venture capital funding in the region and speaks to some of the brightest minds in the sector to share a comprehensive mapping of emerging AI startups.??
John Schaffer, Private Markets Editor at Citywire, shares his top 5 takeaways from last week's IPEM conference held in Cannes, which focused on private wealth. John highlights the main discussion point: the launch of new evergreen vehicles and the scrutiny surrounding this term as a descriptor.?
According to date from State Street Corp, Private equity returns edged out private credit in Q3 2024, with both asset classes returning around 3.1%, as lower interest rates fuelled buyouts and tightened spreads pressured private debt. Bloomberg’s Kat Hidalgo writes investors are shifting allocations toward private equity in anticipation of further rate cuts, while rising competition in private credit is making differentiation and fundraising increasingly challenging.?
United States?
According to annual survey data collected by Pensions & Investments, private equity investments took up a smaller portion of asset allocations from some of the largest retirement plans in 2024. Portfolios heavily invested in the asset class continue to struggle due to lower rates of distributions of profits, which in turn make new commitments difficult. P&I’s Arleen Jacobius also notes that Donald Trump’s victory had mixed results given the President’s pro-business stance but history of “erratic policy changes.”?
In Apollo’s fourth quarter earnings call, Marc Rowan predicted that large private capital companies will increasingly partner with traditional asset managers, allowing investors to have a wider ownership of unlisted assets. As the Financial Times’ Antoine Gara reports, Rowan’s comments came as many private capital firms, including Blackstone, KKR, and Brookfield, have pushed to create products allowing them to manage money for wealthy individual investors and ordinary retirement savers alike, and are increasingly looking towards traditional asset managers to provide access to such investors. This wave of partnerships, Rowan claims, will “shake up Wall Street.”?
The Financial Times reports that US dealmaking has suffered its worst start to a year in a decade amid policy volatility following Donald Trump's election and escalating rhetoric over tariffs, putting a "sudden chill" on activity. The overall number of US mergers and acquisitions collapsed nearly 30 percent in January to 873 deals compared with a year ago, the lowest level since 2015, according to LSEG data. In dollar terms, deal activity fell 18 percent compared with a year ago?
WALL OF MONEY??
Ares has secured over €2.2bn ($2.25bn) for its Ares European Strategic Income Fund (AESIF) within the first year, its open-ended European direct lending fund aimed at wealthy investors in Europe and Asia.??
Goldman Sachs Asset Management is looking to raise as much as $3 billion for a new climate credit strategy.?
Scottsdale, Arizona-based Balbec Capital has announced a final close on InSolve Global Credit Fund VI, a distressed asset-based credit fund, with $1.7 billion in total equity commitments across the flagship fund and related vehicles.?
领英推荐
DEAL DIVE?
Private equity activity in the UK saw a notable recovery in 2024, with deal values reaching their highest level in two years, driven by an improved economic climate and anticipation of tax changes, according to data from KPMG UK.?
Warburg Pincus and Berkshire Partners have agreed to buy aircraft parts maker Triumph Group in a take-private deal valued at about $3 billion, the company said on Monday.?
Apollo Global Management has agreed to provide a $500m hybrid capital solution to Aldar Properties PJSC, one of the UAE’s leading real estate companies, representing one of the region’s largest corporate hybrid private placements to date.?
PAI Partners has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire a majority stake in the airport ground support business Alvest from Caisse de dép?t et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Sagaard.?
H.I.G. Capital has taken a stake in the Heller Group, a computer numerical control machine tools and manufacturing systems developer and provider for the metalworking industry in Germany. Now fourth-generation owners, the Heller family will retain a significant ownership interest.?
Italian marketplace Eataly, majority owned by Investindustrial, is expanding its presence in the Middle East through a partnership with Azadea group with a €100 million investment aimed at opening 40 new stores, including airport locations, and enhancing product distribution.??
IK Partners, via the IK Small Cap III Fund (IK SC III), is to invest in HSL Compliance, a provider of environmental compliance services in the UK, alongside the management team who are re-investing as part of the deal.?
MEDIA OF THE WEEK??
Richard Hope, Global Co-Head of Investments and Head of EMEA at Hamilton Lane, dropped by the TV Studio at IPEM Cannes for a chat on private wealth. Interviewed by our own Rebecca Gaffney, he talked about what's tough for private wealth investors trying to get into private markets, what's happening with evergreen funds, and the momentum behind investing in infrastructure, with Hamilton Lane own survey of over 300 investment advisors, revealing that almost half of them (48%) are planning to invest more in infrastructure.??
You can watch the full interview here.??
MOVERS AND SHAKERS?
Ares Management has elevated two senior partners, Kipp deVeer and Blair Jacobson, to the newly created roles of Co-Presidents, as the firm aims to nearly double its assets under management over the next four years?
Nordic Capital has made four Partner promotions, Martin Jacobsson, Henrik Johansson, Elin Ljung, and Henrik Sandreus, following a successful twelve months for the business which has seen eleven platform acquisitions and four successful exits as well as the closing of the firm’s second mid-market fund at its hard cap of €2bn.?
Permira has hired Chris Buchanan as partner and global head of capital formation and Nader Salman as managing director and head of the Middle East for the firm’s capital formation team.?
FROM THE HORSES MOUTH ?
“I see a very good marriage between our industry, our company, and the public or traditional asset managers who I believe are going to reinvent their businesses spurred on by competitive forces” — Marc Rowan, Apollo Global Management chief executive??
“2024 was an extremely challenging year for the private equity asset class ... I’m not aware of a more challenging year from a relative return perspective” — Michael Langdon, director of private markets at Oregon Investment Council?
“I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don't trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it.” — Charles Dickens, Novelist, born on this day in 1812?
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