The Wire

May 5, 2022

Brookfield, Fidelity, Sequoia join Musk in Twitter takeover; Bain Capital Credit likes the mid-market

Good morning, dealmakers. MK Flynn here with the Wire.

Ponying up. Elon Musk has raised $7.1 billion for his takeover of Twitter from a slew of private investment firms, including Brookfield, Fidelity and Sequoia, and wealthy individuals, including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Prince al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, according to a Wednesday filing with the SEC.

Ebb and flow. With the Federal Reserve’s move Wednesday to raise its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, the biggest hike since 2000, PE Hub checked in with Michael Ewald, global head of private credit, Bain Capital Credit.

“The prospect of inflation and rising interest rates, presumably even above the Fed’s latest hike, hasn’t changed how we think about investing capital nor our investment approach,” Ewald said.

Read my full Q&A here.

For more on the lending perspective in PE-backed deals, see my recent Q&A with Randy Schwimmer, co-head of senior lending at Churchill Asset Management and founder and publisher of The Lead Left.

And for ongoing coverage, see our affiliate publication Private Debt Investor.

Secondaries sale. “Connecticut’s state pension system is gearing up for a sale of fund stakes out of its private equity portfolio, following the path of several other large state plans using the secondaries market to rebalance their allocations,” reports Buyouts’ Chris Witkowsky. Read more here.

Tech and healthcare deals. Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe collected an initial $4 billion-plus for a 14th flagship buyout offering, reports Buyouts’ Kirk Falconer. Fund XIV is expected to make 14 to 16 investments, a Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds report said. In March, the firm said it agreed to acquire a majority stake in Liberty, a dental benefits administrator, alongside Anthem as a minority partner. Earlier, it invested in Linq, a K-12 operations tech provider, joining existing backer Banneker Partners.

Read the whole story.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back with tomorrow’s Wire.

Until then,

Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ...

SPONSORED INSIGHT

Due Diligence AI and Automation in the Post-Covid Era

Looking to the post-pandemic world, we examine the role that due diligence plays in private equity dealmaking and how AI-based automation can streamline the process while increasing accuracy.

DOWNLOAD NOW

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

Buyouts’ latest Off-duty column — which provides a snapshot of top investors, including a few details about what they do when not chasing deals — spends time with Advent’s John Maldonado, who talks about open kimonos, building Genoa and calling Mom.

J-STAR, a Japanese buyout firm, is exploring whether the GP-led secondaries market could help it to avoid overstepping concentration limits during an “aggressive” program of buy-and-builds. (Private Equity International)

Quinbrook is setting its sights on further combined solar and storage deals after the Australian asset manager concluded $1.9 billion in financing for Gemini. The 690MW solar and 380MW storage project, in Nevada, became the largest tax equity financing for a single renewables project in the US when it closed last week. (Infrastructure Investor)

Partners Group has joined the small group of firms to extend equity ownership to employees of portfolio companies. (Private Equity International)

QIC is planning to launch its second Global Infrastructure Fund later this year, Infrastructure Investor has learned, following the A$1 billion ($725 million; €682 million) extension of its first vehicle last October.

"Apollo Global Management beat profit expectations in its first results since its merger with life insurance company Athene in January, a deal that dramatically transformed the private equity giant into a $32bn financial conglomerate." (Financial Times)

"It’s been happening over a decade. Rather than settle on endowments or pension funds, the biggest private equity firms are also looking to a new cohort—the world’s richest people—as a source of capital." (Fortune)

Forbes, commenting on news that Apollo is teaming up with Roku to bid on a 20% stake in Starz, said that a "strategic bidder, specifically a major media conglomerate which owns multiple cable networks and TV stations, would likely lead to a better outcome as it could use its leverage to force cable and satellite operators to carry the channel."

"A flurry of private equity firms have joined the race to acquire Red Arrow Studios’ North American production businesses." (Television Business International)

"Technology investor Insight Partners is seeking more than $2 billion for a multiasset secondary transaction that will give the firm more time and money to manage certain portfolio companies, according to people familiar with the matter." (WSJ Pro)

“The prospect of inflation and rising interest rates, presumably even above the Fed’s latest hike, hasn’t changed how we think about investing capital nor our investment approach.”

— Michael Ewald, global head of private credit, Bain Capital Credit

Today's letter was prepared by MK Flynn

Subscribe now to get full, unlimited access to all PE Hub content, including every PE Hub Wire article.

Please visit Buyouts for the latest insight into LP activity and Venture Capital Journal for comprehensive coverage and analysis of what’s happening in VC.

London | New York | Hong Kong

PEI Media Group Ltd is registered in England no.6135779

Registered office: 7th Floor, 100 Wood Street, EC2V 7AN

To update your PE Hub email preferences, or to unsubscribe, click here.