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Leonard Green and Altas take next steps in Pye-Barker sale; Truelink looks to optimize GES

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

First, we’ll start off with Leonard Green and Altas Partners which have advanced bidders to the second round of a sale process for Pye-Barker Fire & Safety, three sources familiar with the matter told PE Hub.

Next, we have a deep dive into Truelink Capital’s acquisition of Viad Corp’s Las Vegas-based events unit, Global Experience Specialists, for $535 million.

Then, we have a deal announcement this morning. KKR and Energy Capital Partners have teamed up on a $50 billion partnership focused on investments in data centers and power generation. 

Finally, we will be finishing up with Ropes & Gray’s private equity market recap of September.

Pye-Barker in second round

We have a scoop to talk about.PE Hub senior reporterMichael Schoeck says thatLeonard Green and Altas Partners have advanced bidders to the second round of a sale process for Pye-Barker Fire & Safety, three sources familiar with the matter told PE Hub.

Details, including the size of the valuation, are available in the premium version of the Wire.

Improving the event experience

Now, let’s shift over to the event management space. Earlier in October, Truelink Capital announced the acquisition of Viad Corp’s Las Vegas-based events unit, Global Experience Specialists, for $535 million.

To learn more about the deal, PE Hub reporter Iris Dorbian caught up with Truelink managing partner Luke Myers. Myers co-founded the Los Angeles-based PE firm in 2022 with fellow managing partner Todd Golditch after both worked at Platinum Equity.

Premium subscribers to the Wire can read more about why Truelink made the deal.

Power generating partnership

Let’s add a jolt of energy to the Wire this morning with an announcement. KKR and Energy Capital Partners teamed announced a $50 billion partnership focused on the growth of artificial intelligence through investments in data centers and power generation.

Data centers have been a huge focus for PE firms over the past few years. PE Hub highlighted seven deals involving data centers throughout the early part of 2024.

Find out details on the deal in the premium version of the Wire.

PE optimism in the market

We’re hearing a lot of positive sentiment about a comeback in private equity dealmaking, but we haven’t seen evidence of it yet. According to Ropes & Gray’s private equity market recap of September, Q3 deal count finished flat compared to Q2, and 2024 deal count is on track to finish around 2023 levels.

Premium subscribers can look at the report with analysis from a partner at the law firm.

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)

Leon Capital and Nuveen Private Equity Impact have made a majority investment in Longevity Partners, a climate and sustainability consultancy for the real estate and infrastructure sectors. PE Hub spoke to Leon Capital to find out the drivers behind the deal and its growth plans for the business.

Bridgepoint is looking at more potential add-ons for Achilles Information, as it hopes to boost its name in the supply chain management industry, said Matt Legg, partner at Bridgepoint Development Capital, speaking to PE Hub.

Warburg Pincus is running a large, multi-asset secondary process that is unique in that the firm lined up lead investors on its own, sources told Buyouts.

For the second time, State of Wisconsin Investment Board has backed a fund sponsored by emerging manager Hughes & Company. (Buyouts)

Adams Street Partners closed on its latest broad-based private markets fund on $1.1 billion, with secondaries to account for approximately 25 percent, a spokesperson confirmed to Secondaries Investor.

AustralianSuper is looking to make the US a key part of its annual deployment in infrastructure after the investor’s recent $1.5 billion commitment to DigitalBridge-owned data centre platform DataBank. (Infrastructure Investor)

Norwegian private equity firm Verdane‘s climate impact fund has closed on €700 million after just five months on the fundraising trail. (New Private Markets)

Real estate secondaries saw $2 billion-$3 billion of volume in the first half of this year, skewed towards GP-led deals, according to research from PJT Partners. (Secondaries Investor)

What StepStone looks for in a climate GP: Bhavika Vyas, a speaker at the upcoming Impact & Transition Investing Summit: North America from New Private Markets, discusses deploying capital in a field where track records are often limited.

Private equity fund LPs want greater transparency in waterfall distributions, and many are willing to walk away from funds with “unreasonable” or less transparent provisions. (Private Funds CFO)

They said it

“We believe GES is a perfect fit for our portfolio and we see tremendous potential to enhance the business. Typically, we find under-optimized businesses that we can improve operationally. From a tech perspective, we see an opportunity to improve GES’s current offerings, making them more frictionless, thus improving the overall experience with exhibitors and participants in the industry.”

— Luke Myers, managing partner, Truelink Capital on the firm’s investment in GES