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Blackstone leverages generative AI in dealmaking; New Heritage sells foodservice biz to Morgan Street

Good morning, PE Hubsters! Rafael Canton here with the US edition of the Wire from the New York newsroom.

To kick off this Wednesday, we’ll start off with a conversation with Blackstone chief technology officer John Stecher about the latest generative AI happening at the firm.  

A flurry of deal announcements hit our inboxes this morning. As always, you can visit the News in Brief section of our website for ongoing coverage of deals. I’ll highlight a couple of deals from this morning. First, New Heritage Capital has exited its investment in foodservice company Continental Services. The company was acquired by Morgan Street Holdings.

Next, TPG has agreed to make a minority investment in Demopolis Equity Partners, a New Jersey-based technology-focused private equity firm.

Finally, we’ll finish up with a restaurant technology market update from Houlihan Lokey.

Leveraging generative AI

Let’s start off with a conversation about generative AI and an update on how one PE firm is using it. PE Hub caught up with Blackstone chief technology officer John Stecher to find out what’s new on the tech front for Blackstone. The conversation delves into topics such as how generative AI is impacting dealmaking at Blackstone and value creation for the firm’s portfolio companies.

Premium subscribers to the Wire can learn about Stecher’s thoughts on Blackstone’s use of generative AI in dealmaking and value creation.

Culinary capabilities

This morning, we have a food service deal. New Heritage Capital has exited its investment in Continental Services, a Midwest-based corporate foodservice provider. Founded in 1989, Continental was acquired by Morgan Street Holdings.

In August, PE Hub highlighted several foodservice deals in private equity.

Subscribe to the premium version of the Wire to learn more about the deal.

Professional experience

In another deal, TPG has agreed to make a minority investment in Demopolis Equity Partners, a New Jersey-based technology-focused private equity firm.

Read more in the premium version of the Wire.

Enhancing efficiency

The Restaurant industry is not slowing down in 2024 according to Houlihan Lokey’s restaurant technology market update.

A recent example of a private equity deal in this space was Great Hill Partners agreeing to sell Paytronix to The Access Group earlier in November. Paytronix is a digital guest engagement software provider for restaurants and convenience stores. The Access Group is a portfolio company of Hg Capital, TA Associates and GIC.

Premium subscribers to the Wire can read the report as well as thoughts from Houlihan Lokey.

That’s it from me today. If you have any questions, thoughts, or want to chat, please email me at rafael.c@pei.group.

Tomorrow, Nina Lindholm will be with you for the Europe edition of the Wire, and Michael Schoeck will bring you the US edition.

Cheers,

Rafael

Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

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They said it

“We’re building in-house tools that have the potential to intelligently augment investment processes by enabling teams to generate deep company and sector analysis.”

— John Stecher, chief technology officer, Blackstone on the firm’s use of generative AI in dealmaking