Good morning, Hubsters. MK Flynn here with today’s Wire. There’s been a whirlwind of news the last few days, including, of course, yesterday’s big announcement on the campaign trail. While that development seems unlikely to affect dealmaking – at least in the short term – some of the headlines involving cybersecurity are likely to have an impact on transactions. Private equity firms have long invested in cybersecurity providers, and dealmaking activity shows no signs of letting up. Today, PE Hub is highlighting a handful of recent deals in the sector. We’ve also got an interesting Q&A about deals involving physician practices, an area that’s facing more scrutiny these days. And finally, we’ll share Blackstone’s ambitions to become the world’s largest AI infrastructure investor, featuring comments by chief executive Stephen Schwarzman. Rolling up Physician practice rollups have attracted private equity investments for years, but recently, PE’s role has come under fire from some regulators and healthcare advocates. While some sources have told PE Hub that some firms may be rethinking patient-facing investments, we’ve continued to see a lot of deal activity.
PE Hub’s John R Fischer turned to Mateusz Saykiewicz, a partner at Atlanta-based law firm Troutman Pepper who advises PE groups on these deals, to explain why firms continue to invest in doctors’ offices despite increased scrutiny.
Upgrade to the premium version of the Wire to read the interview and discover a slew of deals in the sector. Listicle Cybersecurity’s significance was underscored in recent weeks both by the attack on Disney that leaked data including internal communications and the global IT outage involving cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike. PE Hub’s Obey Martin Manayiti rounded up seven recent cybersecurity deals, including three from Thoma Bravo. Upgrade to read all about them. AI infrastructure Blackstone is doubling down on the data center boom supercharged by AI. In fact, the New York-based asset management giant “is positioning itself to be the largest financial investor in AI infrastructure in the world,” chief executive Stephen Schwarzman, said during his company’s second-quarter earnings call on July 18, reports Harrison Connery, a senior reporter at affiliate title PERE. Upgrade to the premium version of the Wire to learn all about Blackstone’s data center investment strategy. Care to weigh in? “May you live in interesting times,” the saying goes. I’d say we’re living in interesting times right now. Until now, sources have told us the upcoming election has had little impact on dealmaking – partly because both the two presumed major party candidates already had the job and their policies are well understood. Does the change in presidential candidate affect your dealmaking? I’m also wondering if you or your portfolio companies felt any impact from the global IT outage last week? If you’d like to weigh in on either issue – or anything else PE deal related – I’d love to hear from you at mk.flynn@pei.group. That’s all for today. Craig McGlashan will be with you tomorrow. Cheers, MK Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ... | 