Illustration: Megan Robinson/Axios
Private Equity Buys
🚑 Advent International plans to acquire Japanese nursing care firm Japan Well-being from MBK Partners for around $1.24b, per Nikkei. Go deeper
⚽ Arctos is in early talks to buy a stake in Premier League club Newcastle United FC from control owner Saudi PIF, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• Axis CLC, backed by H.I.G. Capital, acquired Fieldway Group, a U.K. provider of specialist fire safety and compliance services, from Foresight Group (LSE: FSG). Go deeper
• Bain Capital and Blackstone advanced to the second round of bidding for the real estate unit of Fuji Media (Tokyo: 4676), which could fetch $6.3b, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• Balbec Capital acquired Funding 365, a British property lender. Go deeper
• Berkshire Partners invested in Harbourfront, a Canadian wealth management firm, at a C$1.78b valuation. Existing investor Audax Private Equity will retain a "significant interest." Go deeper
🏀 Blue Owl Capital is in talks to buy a minority stake in the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• Brenton Point Capital Partners invested in Merit Restorations, a Purcellville, Va.-based general contractor. Go deeper
• Brightstar Capital Partners acquired Erdman, a Madison, Wis.-based architecture and engineering firm focused on senior living facilities. Go deeper
• Brookfield is lead bidder for Patrick Drahi's control stake in broadband network XpFibre, which could be valued at up to €8b, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• CertifID, backed by Arthur Ventures and Centana Growth Partners, acquired CloseSimple, a Minneapolis-based provider of real estate closing software, from Straylight Capital. Go deeper
♟️ CVC Capital Partners agreed to invest in online chess platform Chess.com, whose existing backers include General Atlantic. Go deeper
• Daida, backed by HiGro, acquired Scan-Optics, a Manchester, Conn.-based document processor. Go deeper
• DHCare, backed by Rhône, agreed to carve out and acquire the human mobility division of Ottobock, a maker of wheelchairs and specialist mobility solutions. Go deeper
✈️ EasyJet (LSE: EZJ rejected a £4.74b takeover offer from Castlelake. Go deeper
🚑 EBI, backed by Avista Healthcare Partners, acquired Xstim, a division of Precision Medical Products focused on bone growth stimulation solutions. Go deeper
• Edgewell Personal Care, maker of Schick razors, has rejected a $30 a share takeover offer from private equity firm Yellow Wood Partners, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• Exigent Group, a portfolio company of Huron Capital, acquired Superior Building Services, a Columbus, Ohio-based boiler and HVAC services provider. Go deeper
• Flexpoint Ford invested in Novel, a Jersey City, N.J.-based underwriting and insurance services platform. Go deeper
• Forged Solutions, a J.F. Lehman & Co. portfolio company, acquired Custom Alloy, a High Bridge, N.J.-based forged components maker. Go deeper
• GIMV acquired Cap Vert, a French provider of environmental services, from Ambienta. Go deeper
• Great Hill Partners invested in Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming, a Boston-based pet grooming company, joining existing investor Garnett Station Partners. Go deeper
• Greybull Stewardship acquired Genesys Industries, a manufacturer and supplier of aerospace, commercial aviation, and specialty industrial products. genesysindustries.com
🎵 HarbourView Equity Partners acquired the publisher's share of certain compositions written by Wolf Cousins, a songwriting collective founded by Shellback and Max Martin. Go deeper
• HSG completed its acquisition of Golden Goose, an Italian luxury sneaker maker. Go deeper
• Infoshare, backed by Omni Partners, bought DEF Software, a U.K.-based government software developer. Go deeper
🚑 Incline Equity Partners invested in West Physics, an Atlanta-based provider of medical and health physics testing and consulting services. Go deeper
• Investcorp agreed to acquire a majority stake in Smart Managed Solutions, a U.K. provider of mechanical and electrical facilities management services. Go deeper
• LightBay Capital invested in Centre Technologies, a Houston-based IT managed services provider. Go deeper
• Mari Group, the PE-backed entertainment firm led by Ari Emanuel, is in talks to buy British West End and Broadway theater operator ATG Entertainment for £4.5 billion from Providence Equity Partners, per the FT. Go deeper
• MSP Sports Capital acquired a majority stake in New Zealand SailGP Team. Go deeper
• Moeris, backed by Caymus Equity Partners, acquired Stay Safe Traffic Control, a Raleigh, N.C.-based provider of work zone safety and traffic control services. Go deeper
⚡ New Mountain Capital acquired RRC Companies, an Austin, Texas-based renewable power generation and battery company. Go deeper
• Noro-Moseley Partners led an investment in Eaigle, a Boston-based gate and yard automation company for logistics-intensive industries. In Revenue Capital and Boreal Ventures participated. eaigle.com
• Norwest invested in East Range Group, a family of regional high-purity water systems and service companies. Go deeper
• Permira and Warburg Pincus completed their $8.4b take-private buyout of Clearwater Analytics, a Boise, Idaho-based investment and accounting software maker. BFD flashback
• PGW, backed by One Equity Partners, acquired Windshield Surgeons, a Canadian automotive glass business. Go deeper
• Platinum Equity is the last remaining bidder for a 50% stake in Nestlé's (Swiss: NESN) water business, after CD&R dropped out, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
- Platinum also agreed to acquire Tangent Technologies, an Aurora, Ill.-based manufacturer of high-synthetic materials. Go deeper
• Pollen Street agreed to buy Universal Banking, the core banking software business of Finastra, a London-based portfolio company of Vista Equity Partners. Go deeper
• Quad-C Management invested in Armstrong Transport Group, a Charlotte-based logistics platform that connects commercial shippers with full and less-than truckload carriers. Go deeper
• Reverence Capital Partners and co-investors will buy a majority stake in Minneapolis accounting firm Eide Bailly, valuing it at $1.8b per the WSJ. Go deeper
• Ridgeline Roofing & Restoration, backed by Bertram Capital, acquired Freedom Roofing & Construction, a Champaign, Ill.-based provider of roofing and exterior services. Go deeper
• Rise Baking Company, backed by Butterfly Equity and Platinum Equity, agreed to acquire Jimmy's Gourmet Bakery, a New Jersey-based manufacturer of premium cookies and baked goods. Go deeper
• Schneider Geospatial, an Align Capital portfolio company, acquired New England GeoSystems, a Middletown, Conn.-based geospatial software and services company. Go deeper
• Signal Hill Equity Partners-backed Aeterna Group launched. It's a combination of five architecture and engineering firms in New York, West Virginia, Illinois and Washington, D.C. axios.link/3QGu1Iq
🚑 Singlepoint Healthcare, backed by DFW Capital Partners, acquired Healix, a Sugar Land, Texas-based infusion services provider, from TA Associates. Axios Flashback
🌮 Southpaw, a Taco Bell and Dunkin' franchisee backed by Balance Point Capital, agreed to buy 43 Taco Bell stores in Ohio from Mas Restaurant Group, a Bessemer Investors portfolio company. Go deeper
🚑 Stada, a German drugmaker owned by CapVest, is weighing a €6b takeover of Cooper Consumer Health, a Dutch personal care products maker owned by CVC Capital Partners, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
🌎 Stegra, a Swedish green steel manufacturing infrastructure company, raised €1.4b. Wallenberg Investments led, joined by IMAS, Temasek, Bolero, SEB-Stiftelsen, Altor, Hy24, Just Climate, AIP Management, and Scania. Go deeper
• Teleo Capital Management acquired SmartFactory Rx, a pharma manufacturing intelligence platform, from Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT). Go deeper
• Thoma Bravo invested in Padoa, a French provider of occupational health, safety and prevention software. Existing backers Five Arrows and Kamet Ventures also participated. Go deeper
🚑 Thoreau, Matt Holt's health investment fund, confirmed its $12b plan to acquire Ensemble, a Blue Ash, Ohio-based revenue cycle management company. Berkshire Partners, Warburg Pincus, and Bon Secours Mercy Health will continue as investors. Go deeper
• Tredence, backed by Advent International, acquired KMK Consulting, an analytics firm focused on life sciences and biopharma. Go deeper
• Verdantas, backed by Sterling, acquired Yu & Associates, an Elmwood, N.J.-based geotechnical, environmental, and civil engineering firm. Go deeper
⚡️ Warburg Pincus agreed to acquire Network Plus, a U.K. utility and infrastructure service provider, from OMERS Private Equity. Go deeper
• YA Group, backed by THL Partners, acquired Carr Engineering, a Houston-based motor vehicle crash reconstruction firm. Go deeper
Private Equity Sells
🚑 Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) completed its $950m acquisition of Biocare Medical, a Pacheco, Calif.-based maker of cancer research tools and materials, from Excellere Partners and GHO Capital. Go deeper
• Air Distribution Technologies, a Truelink Capital portfolio company, sold ventilation systems maker PennBarry to Hessaire Products. Go deeper
🌎 BeZero Carbon, a London-based carbon ratings agency, acquired Cedar, a developer of carbon management software whose backers included Eniac Ventures, MCJ, Obvious Ventures, Redalpine, Shine Capital, and USV. Go deeper
• Bristow Group (NYSE: VTOL) agreed to acquire Berry Aviation, a San Marcos, Texas, defense services company, from Acorn Capital Management for $105m. Go deeper
• Bumble (NAS: BMBL), a dating app backed by Blackstone, hired Morgan Stanley to explore a sale, per Reuters. Go deeper
🚑 Cityblock Health, valued by VCs at $5.7b, agreed to acquire rural primary care business Homeward Health, per Axios Pro. Homeward had raised $72m from firms like General Catalyst (also a Cityblock backer), Arch Venture Partners, Human Capital, and Mentors Fund. Go deeper
• Danone (Paris: DANO) agreed to buy Australia's Made Group, producer of Cocobella coconut water and Rokeby protein smoothies, from TPG. Go deeper
🌎 Döhler, a German ingredients maker, acquired Nukoko, a British alt-chocolate developer backed by EIT Food, Innovate UK, Oyster Bay, The Mills Fabrica, IndieBio, SOSV, Kickstart Innovation, and Shakeup Factory. Go deeper
• Edward Jones invested in Quicken, a Menlo Park-based personal financial management software firm owned by Aquiline. Go deeper
⚡ Energy Fuels (TSX: EFR) agreed to acquire German magnetics company Vac from Ara Partners for $1.9b. Go deeper
• ExlService (Nasdaq: EXLS) agreed to buy iMerit, a San Jose, Calif.-based AI model training company, for up to $310m. iMerit had raised around $25m from British International Investment, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, YC, and Omidyar Network. Go deeper
• Holcim completed its acquisition of Xella, a German sustainable walling solutions company, from Lone Star. Go deeper
🌎 MSCI (NYSE: MSCI) acquired First Street, a climate risk data startup for $120m (plus earnouts). First Street had raised over $50m from Innovation Endeavors, SE Ventures, Galvanize Climate Solutions, General Catalyst, Congruent Ventures, and Nuveen. Go deeper
• Navis Capital Partners next year will seek to sell Dan-D Foods, a Canadian nuts and snacks maker that could fetch $600m, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• Nordic Climate Group acquired ebutec Group's HVAC unit from Ufenau Capital Partners. Go deeper
• Samba, backed by firms like August Capital and Union Grove Ventures, acquired Bestever AI, an SF-based agentic advertising startup that had raised over $5m from Audacious Ventures, F7 Ventures, MKT1, Offline Ventures, Pareto Holdings, SuperAngel.Fund, and XRM Media. Go deeper
• Sofi (Nasdaq: SOFI) acquired Composer, a Toronto-based automated investing platform for retail traders. Composer had raised over $11m from firms like Left Lane Capital and First Round Capital. Go deeper
⚡️ Stonepeak sold its remaining 50% stake in the KAPS Pipeline to Keyera (TSX: KEY) for C$1.22b. Go deeper
• Superhuman, valued by VCs at over $13b, acquired GPTZero, an AI detection startup that had raised $13.5m from Footwork, Reach Capital, Alt Capital, Uncork Capital, and Neo. Go deeper
• Walmart (Nasdaq: WMT) agreed to buy Vibe.co, a streaming ad platform that had raised nearly $80m from firms like Hedosophia, Revolut, Elaia and Singular. Go deeper
More M&A
• Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) agreed to acquire Topaz Labs, an Addison, Texas-based provider of video and image enhancement models. Go deeper
• Backbase acquired Kasisto, a banking and financial services platform backed by Oak HC/FT and Naples Technology Ventures. backbase.com
🏀 Bill Foley, owner of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights, said he'll seek to buy an NBA expansion franchise in Las Vegas. Go deeper
• Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) agreed to acquire the Ultra I&C Mission Solutions business from Advent-backed Cobham Ultra Group for $720m. Ultra Mission Solutions focuses on defense software, encryption, and edge‑compute products. Go deeper
• Brewer Science agreed to acquire the semiconductor chemicals business line of Heraeus Epurio, a German semiconductors business. It includes a chemicals production site in Dayton, Ohio. Go deeper
• CRH (NYSE: CRH) agreed to buy Arcosa (NYSE: ACA), a Dallas-based infrastructure products maker, for $8.4b in cash. Go deeper
• Elroy Air, a Byron, Calif.-based cargo drone startup, agreed to go public via a reverse merger with Columbus Circle Capital Corp. II (Nasdaq: CMII) at a $800m pre-money valuation. Elroy has raised over $100m from firms like Shield Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Marlinspike, and Catapult Ventures. Go deeper
🎲 Entain (LSE: ENT), a London-based gambling company, is weighing a sale of its Central and Eastern Europe operations, per Reuters. Go deeper
🚀 Firefly Aerospace (Nasdaq: FLY) acquired Space-ng, a provider of vision navigation and autonomous guidance. Go deeper
🚑 H.B. Fuller (NYSE: FUL) offered to buy Advanced Medical Solutions Group (LSE: AMS), a U.K. maker of tissue-healing products, for £715m. Go deeper
⚡️ IsoEnergy (NYSE American: ISOU) completed its acquisition of Toro Energy, an Australian uranium developer, for A$75m in stock. Go deeper
🚑 Jamieson (TSE: JWEL), a Canadian vitamins and supplements maker, hired BMO and Canaccord Genuity to explore a sale, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• Maridea Wealth Management acquired Ashford Investment Advisors, a Daytona Beach, Fla.-based wealth management firm with approximately $180m under management. Go deeper
🚀 MDA Space (TSX: MDA) agreed to buy smallsat manufacturer Blue Canyon Technologies from Raytheon, a unit of RTX (NYSE: RTX), for $620m in cash. Go deeper
🚑 Merck of Germany agreed to buy Bio-Techne (Nasdaq: TECH), a Minneapolis-based lab tools maker, for $11.4b in cash, or $73 per share (24% premium to yesterday's closing price). Go deeper
• MoEngage, an Indian customer engagement software unicorn, acquired Aampe, an SF-based developer of AI agent assignment software. Go deeper
• ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON) agreed to acquire Synaptics (Nasdaq: SYNA) for $7b in stock. Go deeper
• Paramount Skydance (Nasdaq: PSKY) is preparing to divest its Universal Pictures JV to address EU antitrust concerns over its Warner Bros Discovery deal, per Reuters. Go deeper
• Prologis (NYSE: PLD) said it was rebuffed on a £12.6b takeover offer for industrial real estate peer Segro (LSE: SGRO). Go deeper
🚑 Remix Therapeutics, a Watertown, Mass.-based RNA processing reprogramming biotech, is going public via a reverse merger with Passage Bio (Nasdaq: PASG). Remix has raised over $200m from firms like Arch Venture Partners, Column Group, WTT Investment, Willett Advisors, Atlas Venture, Foresite Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Casdin Capital, and Surveyor Capital. Go deeper
• Ridgepost Capital (NYSE: RPC) completed its acquisition of Stellus Capital Management, a midmarket direct lender with around $4b in AUM. Go deeper
⚡ SoftBank said it will seek to invest in Tepco (Tokyo: 9501), Japan's largest utility. Go deeper
• SPS Commerce (Nasdaq: SPSC), a supply chain software maker with a $2b market cap, hired Morgan Stanley to explore a sale after activist pressure, per Reuters. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Alex Jones joined Headland Consultancy as head of private capital. He previously led comms at Triton Partners. Go deeper
• Annie Shapiro was promoted to partner at Inspired Capital. She was VP of platform. inspiredcapital.com
• Axel André, former Reinsurance Group of America (NYSE: RGA) CFO, will join TPG (Nasdaq: TPG) as CFO on July 27. He will succeed Jack Weingart, who will transition to CEO of TPG's Global Wealth Solutions business. Go deeper
• Bill Curtin joined Davis Polk as a Washington D.C.-based partner in its M&A practice. He previously was with Hogan Lovells. Go deeper
• Carlos Couret joined H.I.G. Capital as a managing director and head of its Spanish lower midmarket team. He previously was with ProA Capital. Go deeper
• Daniel Grinnan and Will Olson joined Braemont Capital as a managing director and VP of biz dev, respectively. Grinnan previously was with The Riverside Co., and Olson was with Braemont portfolio company Vixxo Facility Solutions. Go deeper
• Josh Elman joined a16z as a partner focused on consumer tech deals. He previously was with Apple and, before that, spent nine years at Greylock. Go deeper
• Larry Greenberg was named president of private markets platform Willow Wealth. Go deeper
• Littlejohn & Co. promoted Charles Leung to managing director. Go deeper
🚑 Margaret Kaczor Andrew joined Clarevia Ventures as a venture partner. She previously was with William Blair. Go deeper
• Marianne Lake is retiring as CEO of JPMorgan's consumer and community banking business, taking her out of the Jamie Dimon succession race. Go deeper
• Max Schechter joined Arsenal Capital Partners as managing director and head of business development for Arsenal's industrial growth team. Go deeper
• Nicola Kerslake joined Reservoir as general partner following its acquisition of Contain, an agriculture finance and data platform founded by Kerslake. reservoir.co
• Novak Djokovic, the star tennis player, joined General Atlantic as a global strategic advisor. Go deeper
• Pradeep Mohinani is retiring as a partner with Ares Management, where he focuses on Asia credit, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• William Mansfield is joining Citi as head of EMEA M&A from Deutsche Bank, per Reuters. Go deeper
