| GA backs Atera as demand for IT services spikes, Benford Capital beefs up cattle care platform, Clearlake buys Spring Window Fashions Morning, hubsters!
Today we’ve got an assortment of investment activity taking place in segments ranging from IT management and custom window coverings to hoof baths that keep cattle milking and money-making. Are you intrigued?
To start, General Atlantic is betting on the explosive growth in demand for IT services stemming from small- and medium-sized businesses, leading an investment round in Atera that values the Israel-based business at $500 million, the firm told PE Hub. GA joins existing investor K1 Investment Management. “All of our companies are trying to make themselves more efficient through software, and Atera is really playing to the center of that,” General Atlantic managing director Alex Crisses told PE Hub. Read Milana’s full report for all the deets.
Niche: Here’s something we don’t write about every day… hoof baths for dairy milking cattle. Turns out, there’s a chemical maker with private equity backing doing just that, and it’s consolidating the industry, too. Specialty Sales, a portfolio company of Benford Capital Partners, is poised to surpass $10 million in EBITDA with the completion of two add-ons also in the hoof-health space – Environmental Technologies and Bovistride – according to a source in the industry. The concept? Specialty Sales offers free automated hoof bath systems to commercial dairy farms in exchange for exclusive rights to supply treatment chemicals used in the systems. Check out Karishma’s full report on PE Hub.
Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub...
That's it for me! Have a great week ahead everyone, and as always, hit me up at springle@buyoutsinsider.com with any feedback, tips or just to say hello!
Also of note (may require subscriptions) Booted: LPs with Novalpina Capital's debut fund voted to kick out the GP, but now comes the real challenge -- deciding whether to replace the GP, or simply pull the plug on the fund. While removing the GP took a big effort on the part of the LP base, LPs have to determine whether they can reunderwrite a new team to run the fund, and whether the costs will be worth it. Read it here on Buyouts.
Change: Michael Ricciardi, CEO and co-founder of private equity placement agency Mercury Capital Advisors, is moving into a chairman emeritus position with no daily leadership responsibilities, the firm confirmed Tuesday. It’s not clear if Ricciardi’s removal from daily leadership was the result of an internal investigation into allegations of racial and sexual discrimination made by an ex-Mercury partner earlier this year in a lawsuit. Ricciardi had temporarily stepped out of leadership at the start of the investigation earlier this year. Read it here.
On the move: Ares Management, the latest private markets giant to enter the secondaries buyside, has lost a partner from its recently acquired firm, writes Buyouts. John Stott, originally a partner from Landmark Partners, who focuses on private equity secondaries in its Secondary Solutions Group, will leave the firm, according to three sources familiar with the matter. Read it here.
PE Deals 
They said it “That theme of software driving innovation and efficiency and functionality within every organization is something that's proliferated at a pace that we've never seen before.” General Atlantic managing director Alex Crisses told PE Hub, speaking to the firm's investment in Atera, an IT services provider for small- and medium-sized businesses.
Today's letter was prepared by Sarah Pringle 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. 
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