H/Advisors Private Capital Wrap-Up 31 January 2025
At this week’s IPEM Wealth (‘New promises for private markets’) in Cannes, France, the mood was quite optimistic. Antoine Colson in his opening speech predicted that private investors (retail and family offices) could contribute up to $10trn to private capital over the next decade which was welcomed by the sector that seems to be fundraising continuously. Another take away was that in light of the world beyond Europe, the continent’s PE actors should pull together to create stronger companies in fast-growing sectors to make Europe's economy more resilient to outside influences and helping it stay relevant.?
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WORTH A READ ?
United States?
Nascent signs of renewed investor interest in physician practice deals may bolster private equity exits in 2025, according to WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Maria Armental. In the last half of 2024, the sector saw a higher volume of exits, both to other private equity buyers and – more importantly – some strategic buyers. However, while there have been a handful of successful exits, there remains a gap between buyer and seller valuation expectations, according to Dan Shoenholz, who leads the health services team at EY-Parthenon. "If there is a meeting of the minds on buyer-seller expectations,” Schoenholz says, “[we] might see the market pick up very quickly." ??
As the U.S. adjusts to the Trump administration, recently departed FTC chair Lina Khan told the Financial Times’ Stefania Palma that she fears “catastrophic consequences” for the country should Donald Trump’s antitrust officials fail to regulate the private equity industry. According to Khan, private equity poses a threat to the U.S. healthcare system, especially given the high volume of investments in providers which have reportedly resulted in worse quality care and higher prices.?
State legislators are keeping a close eye on healthcare consolidation according to WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Chris Cumming. In just the past two weeks, at least six states have introduced bills to impose restrictions on corporate healthcare mergers, with several measures specifically targeting private equity deals. Cumming notes, however, that none of the bills are close to being enacted and that similar proposals set forth by other states last year all failed due to opposition from lawmakers and lobbyists.?
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Europe?
In 2024, investors sold a record $162bn in private equity stakes on secondary markets as pension funds and buyout groups sought liquidity in a prolonged slowdown in dealmaking, with prices improving due to confidence in future exits. The Financial Times’ Ivan Levingston and Alexandra Heal suggest the?shift in competition regulators in 2025 may lead to a more lenient M&A environment, potentially boosting private equity transactions and facilitating further portfolio sales.?
In Bloomberg’s newsletter ‘The Brink’, Constantine Courcoulas?and?Luca Casiraghi look at some troubled situations emerging in private credit.?A series of restructurings, including Pro-Gest’s court-supervised debt overhaul, is challenging private credit’s reputation as a low-risk investment, as high borrowing costs and weaker earnings strain borrowers. While there are no signs of systemic failure, global regulators, including the IMF, are increasing scrutiny over potential bubbles and the valuation of assets in the $1.6 trillion private credit market.?
Private Equity News’ Seb McCarthy writes private equity firms are hiring fewer principals, or “deal captains,” as M&A activity slows due to high interest rates, expensive valuations, and a tougher fundraising environment, shifting focus toward portfolio management instead. Meanwhile, UK-based private equity professionals continue to earn higher base salaries and bonuses than their EU counterparts, with capital formation teams emerging as a key growth area amid increasing demand for specialised fundraising talent.?
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WALL OF MONEY ?
Francisco Partners (FP) has held the final close of its third credit fund, FP Credit Partners III, with $3.3bn in total capital commitments – surpassing its initial $2.3bn target and its predecessor fund, which closed at $2.2bn in October 2021.?
RGREEN INVEST will manage Crédit Agricole Assurances’ new energy transition fund, “Crédit Agricole Transition Infrastructure Debt Fund” (“CATI”), in their bid to strengthen their commitment to financing the transition towards a low-carbon economy.?
Sustainability-led direct lender Colesco Capital has raised more than €800m (￡670.6m) in its first platform close, welcoming APG and Rabobank as investors.?
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DEAL DIVE?
InvestIndustrial, a global private equity firm, has acquired a majority stake in Grupo Alacant, a leading Spanish ice cream manufacturer.?
Thoma Bravo, the US private investment firm focused on the software sector, has acquired a majority stake in eDiscovery provider Casepoint and acquired Opexus from Gemspring Capital, simultaneously executing a merger of the two companies.?
Bridgefield Capital entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Philips Emergency Care Business from Royal Philips N.V. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.?
Malaysia Airports?will be delisted from Malaysia’s stock exchange in Februrary as a consortium led by sovereign fund?Khazanah Nasional?completed a?buyout?valuing the country’s largest airport operator at 18.4bn ringgit ($4.2bn).?
Private equity giant KKR has taken a 12% stake in Henry Schein, the medical and dental supplies distributor, and reached an agreement to add independent directors to the company’s board. ?
HongShan Capital Group (HSG) has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Marshall Group in a deal valuing the Stockholm-based audio equipment maker at 1.1bn euros, marking its largest investment in Europe to date.?
Ares Management and Carlyle have committed $800m in preferred equity to Your.World, a European solutions provider for online enterprises.?
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MEDIA OF THE WEEK??
Bloomberg Australia’s Podcast host Rebecca Jones and Bloomberg finance reporter Harry Brumpton take a look at Insignia Financial’s flurry of takeover offers from overseas players Bain Capital and CC Capital Partners, what it reveals about the growing importance of Australian wealth firms on the global stage, and the implications for 2025 deal activity. ?
Listen to the full episode here.?
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MOVERS AND SHAKERS?
Investindustrial has agreed to acquire the Middle East franchise rights of Italian cuisine and culinary chain Eataly from Azadea Group and is committing to invest as much as €100m to build out the shops in the region. This new agreement comes amid its overall Middle East expansion plan.?
CVC Partners has promoted leveraged loans portfolio manager Pieter Staelens to partner.??
Foresight Group has made three new appointments in its Environmental team, which now numbers ten investment professionals. Minal Patel?joins as director, Peter Bolton?has been appointed as investment analyst, and Charles Sheldon?has joined as investment analyst.?
Astorg has promoted Chris Cozzone and Olivier Lieven to Partner and announced an additional seven Managing Director promotions.?
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FROM THE HORSES MOUTH??
“You have so many underlying LPs saying: ‘I haven’t had distributions out of my venture portfolio going on well over 24 months now’,” — Todd Miller, global co-head of secondary advisory?at Jefferies?
“In our democracy right now there is an open question [on whether] monopolists in extraordinarily powerful firms are going to be able to corrupt the political process and interfere with legitimate law enforcement.” —?Lina Khan, former FTC chair?
“All I insist on, and nothing else, is that you should show the whole world that you are not afraid. Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will remember it.”?—?Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian classical composer, born 27 January 1765?
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