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NEXUS recap: Blackstone’s Gray and KKR’s Nuttall assess M&A landscape, plus green shoots of optimism seen by Bain

Happy Monday, Hubsters. MK Flynn here with today’s Wire.

Signs of Spring are everywhere, and I’m not just talking about the crocuses in Central Park.

There’s a renewed sense of optimism about dealflow.

I’ve just returned from PEI Group’s NEXUS 2024, where the mood was decidedly upbeat. Throughout the week, we’ll be sharing highlights from the summit, which featured an unprecedented lineup of A-list speakers.

At NEXUS, both Blackstone’s Jonathan Gray andKKR’s Scott Nuttalltalked about a rebound in M&A. I’ve got a recap, below.

Conditions “appear to be shifting in favor of hitting the go button,” finds a report from Bain & Co released today.

NEXUS Recap

“M&A is a cyclical business,” said Jonathan Gray, the president and chief operating officer of Blackstone, in a Fireside Chat with Richard Melville, editorial director, US, of PEI Group at the NEXUS 2024 summit.

Subscribers may watch a video clip of the discussion with Gray here.

‘Sweet spot year’

KKR co-chief executive Scott Nuttall also expressed much to cheer about this year. He spoke with Private Equity International’s Adam Le at NEXUS.

Subscribers may Watch a video clip of the conversation with Nuttall here.

Another trend folks were talking about at NEXUS was opening up the private equity asset class to more people. David Rubenstein discussed Carlyle’s ambitions to be at the forefront of the individual investor trend.

Later in the week, we’ll have more from NEXUS, including excerpts from my Fireside Chat with Thoma Bravo’s Orlando Bravo – and why he thinks private equity is the right model for building technology companies.

Green shoots

Conditions “appear to be shifting in favor of hitting the go button,” according to Bain & Co’s Global Private Equity Report 2024, released today. Dealmaking in the first quarter so far has backed up those findings, partner Alexander De Mol told PE Hub Europe’s Craig McGlashan.

Find out more by upgrading to the premium version of the Wire.

Feel free to email me your thoughts on dealflow this Spring. I’m at mk.flynn@pei.group.

Craig McGlashan will be back with more tomorrow.

Cheers, MK

Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

The tougher fundraising environment, with targets taking longer than ever to hit and some GP franchises floundering, is healthy for the industry, a major LP said on stage at the NEXUS 2024 conference in Orlando. (Buyouts)

With greater GP interest in high-net-worth investors, a noteworthy trend is the formation of private equity-specific products tailored to the liquidity requirements of this source. (Buyouts)

Infrastructure Investor is out with its annual debt report, which includes its Infrastructure Investor Debt 30, ranking the credit firms that contributed to fundraising totals surpassing $172 billion over the last five years across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific markets.

Off the back of the worst year for private real estate fundraising since 2012, managers running the 1,280-plus closed-end funds Private Equity Real Estate is tracking in market at the start of 2024 will be hoping for better. Here's why 2024 looks bright for the sector-specialists.

"How CVC struggled to makeover profits at beauty retailer Douglas" (Financial Times)

"Private equity groups globally are sitting on a record 28,000 unsold companies worth more than $3tn, as a sharp slowdown in dealmaking creates a crunch for investors looking to sell assets." (Financial Times)

"Brand Velocity Group, the private equity firm that counts retired NFL quarterback Eli Manning as a partner, hired former Carlyle Group Inc. dealmaker Dan Hodges as a principal." (Bloomberg)

"France aims to make it easier for private equity funds to invest in listed companies and less costly for finance firms to let go of traders under a new bill going to parliament next month, lawmaker Alexander Holroyd said on Monday." (Reuters)

"Multistrategy investor Elliott Investment Management has committed more than $500 million to a continuation fund set up by private-equity firm Quantum Capital Group to extend its ownership of natural-gas producer HG Energy, betting that its value will rise once prices for the fuel rebound, according to people familiar with the matter." (WSJ Pro)

They said it

“This could be a sweet spot year.”

— Scott Nuttall, co-chief executive, KKR, at NEXUS 2024