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Lead gen: car services for sale, plus Thoma Bravo’s exit strategy in focus

Good morning, Nina Lindholm here with the US edition of the Wire, filling in for Michael Schoeck.

Speaking of Michael, he has prepared a story for PE Hub’s On the Block series. These pieces focus on private equity-backed companies actively for sale or ones coming to the market. This morning, the spotlight is on automotive services – a segment that PE finds attractive due to consumers holding on to their vehicles for longer periods of time, according to investment bank Jefferies.

Next, we have the fourth episode of the third season of the Disruption Matters podcast series – perfect listening if you happen to be on the road yourself. In this latest episode, guests from Stanley Capital, Battery Ventures and AlixPartners discuss tech’s role in improving the speed, rigour and ease of roll-up strategies.

Sluggish exit markets have been a thorn in private equity’s side for some time now. Thoma Bravo appears to be faring well despite the slowdown, having generated roughly $25 billion of realizations in two years, sources told affiliate title Buyouts. Reporter Kirk Falconer looked into how the tech-focused firm may have achieved this.

On the road

Dealflow and the pace of companies testing the market have slowed down over the past two months, according to source conversations involving private equity-backed companies coming up for sale, actively for sale or of interest to private equity buyers, writes PE Hub’s Michael Schoeck.

Premium subscribers  to the Wire can find out what family-owned tire service center is expected launch a strategic review in the coming months.

Check out Michael’s full story here. It includes a tire repair chain that has collected first round bids this week.

Tech tactics

Let’s switch from vehicles in need of repair to cutting-edge technology. The Disruption Matters special podcast series is back for a third season, and this year, leading industry experts discuss how private markets can best use today’s technologies to create value.

In this fourth episode, guests from Stanley Capital, Battery Ventures and AlixPartners discuss tech’s role in improving the speed, rigour and ease of roll-up strategies, where a private equity firm acquires a platform company in a fragmented industry and uses M&A to consolidate targets to create a market leader. It’s a popular strategy for the simple reason: it’s worked so well in recent years. The episode looks at what today’s cutting-edge tools, including AI, can do for roll-up strategies, and where human expertise and experience still can’t be replaced.

You can find the episode here.

Effective exits

At a moment when exits are often challenging to pull off, veteran software investor Thoma Bravo appears to be bucking the trend, Kirk Falconer writes.

Since January 2023, Thoma Bravo has generated roughly $25 billion of portfolio realizations, sources told affiliate title Buyouts, enabling the distribution of considerable capital back to limited partners.

Find out more in the premium version of the Wire.

I also recommend checking out Kirk’s full story, as it covers Thoma Bravo’s recent exits and current fundraising status. You can find the piece here.

Thoma Bravo co-founder Orlando Bravo spoke with PE Hub editor-in-chief Mary Kathleen (MK) Flynn at PEI Group’s NEXUS 2024 summit in March.

That’s all from me this morning. Irien Joseph will write to you tomorrow with the Europe Wire, and in exciting news, PE Hub’s John R Fischer will make his US Wire debut later the same day.

Before I sign off, I’d also like to wish happy Rosh Hashanah to our readers.

Cheers,
Nina

Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

FixMap is an “M&A machine” and the leading player in the Polish fiber-to-the-home market by far, thanks to the management team’s relationships with regional operators, according to Christopher Ehrke, a London-based partner at owner Arcus Infrastructure Partners. Arcus acquired a majority stake in FixMap in mid-September. (PE Hub)

CPP Investments and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC have secured a joint venture with data center titan Equinix to develop a new platform worth more than $15 billion. (Infrastructure Investor)

A survey of 30 investors attending September’s Investor Forum in London and carried out by the Infrastructure Investor Network revealed that 57 percent expected to invest more in infrastructure over the coming 12 months than in the year gone by. 41 percent of the LPs surveyed would keep to the current level and only one investor of 30 was looking to invest a little less in infrastructure. (Infrastructure Investor)

When it comes to impact investing, private equity is the dominant asset class, with almost three quarters of impact capital directed that way, according to a survey by The Global Impact Investing Network. (New Private Markets)

Private Equity International has published an Operational Excellence report, examining how private equity firms can drive value creation in portfolio companies through operational expertise. Articles include:

• Why the PE industry is taking a holistic view of its value creation efforts

• Leading from the front on succession planning

• Creating an ownership culture

They said it

“Strategics…are incredibly active because they’re a bit less worried about interest rates. And what they really care about is how well their business is doing.”

— Orlando Bravo, managing partner, Thoma Bravo, speaking at NEXUS 2024 summit