Good morning, dealmakers. MK Flynn here with today’s Wire.
As regular readers of PE Hub know, the global supply chain has become a topic of fascination for me. My initial interest began in early 2020, when we saw how the shutdown of China’s factories delayed delivery of products all over the world. Then in early 2021, the Ever Given container ship got stuck in the Suez Canal, underscoring the complicated interconnectedness of the supply chain. Now in 2022, we’re seeing more disruptions due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and increasingly people are talking about onshoring, nearshoring and a return to localizing the supply chain.
Throughout these disruptions, private equity firms have been seizing the opportunities to snatch up logistics companies that aim to solve some of the inherent problems. To find out more about what the PE model brings to the supply chain table, I turned to Steven Liff, senior partner and head of private equity North America at Sun Capital Partners.
Read the full interview here.
Inside the exit. PE Hub reporter Obey Martin Manayiti has also been talking to investors in supply chain services.
Obey spoke with Gerry DeBiasi, a partner at Kidd & Company, and Ted Wong, a principal at Firmament, about their sale of Logistyx Technologies to E2open for $185 million in March. Logistyx develops software aimed at optimizing parcel shipping, and demand for its software was fueled by the rapid rise of e-commerce during the pandemic.
Read the story here.
Q1 takeaways. After a volatile first quarter, US PE investors anticipate a steadier future, according to PitchBook’s Q1 2022 US PE Breakdown. “PE investors closed 2,166 deals worth a combined $331 billion, as the war in Ukraine wreaked havoc in lending markets, and banks held onto billions of dollars in syndicated loans for LBOs,” the report says.
“Despite an ongoing focus on ESG, the turbulence in the energy sector is likely to create opportunities for investors in traditional oil and gas assets,” the report predicts.
This is a trend we’ve been exploring recently. For more on PE opportunities in oil and gas, see Obey’s recent interviews with Adam Waterous, founder of Waterous Energy Fund; and Ben Dell, co-founder of Kimmeridge.
That’s all for now. I’ll be back with tomorrow’s Wire. (Note: Chris, who usually writes the Wire on Wednesdays, will write Friday’s Wire this week.)
Until tomorrow,
MK
Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ...
