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PE firms driving around for parking; Healthcare tech services to come out on top in 2025

Morning Hubsters,

Happy Friyay! Reporter John R. Fischer here with the US edition of the Wire from the New York newsroom.

Living in New York I always see drivers looking for parking. Private equity firms are the same, having made several investments in the sector this year. PE Hub reporter Obey Martin Manayiti has a listicle on six of these deals.

Shifting to healthcare, investment bank Leerink Partners has an update on M&A activity in the third quarter that includes predictions on biopharma trends that will shape dealmaking in 2025.

I also have some insights to share from my time at the McDermott Will & Emery HPE NYC 2024 conference yesterday, including which healthcare subsector PE sees as the ripest for investments.

Finally, let’s head into the weekend with an overview on talent management technology investments, as discussed in the fifth episode from the third season of the Disruption Matters special podcast miniseries.

PE pulls up

Across North America, driving is the most common form of transportation, making parking a strategic asset for investors. Some of the most popular places where PE has focused on such deals include airports and university campuses, with firms pulling up due to the recurring revenue streams, repeatability and predictability that parking assets have to offer.  

Obey Martin Manayiti rounded up six of these deals in a listicle.

Upgrade to the premium version of the Wire to read the piece.

Favorable environment

Healthcare M&A racked up $32 billion in total in the third quarter of 2024, up 6 percent YOY from the same quarter last year. The period saw 33 deals completed, a 57 percent hike in YOY transaction volume, according to Leerink Partners in its Insights into Healthcare M&A: Q3 2024 Trends update.

Premium subscribers can learn more about the data.

Audience favorite

Healthcare technology service investments are also expected to be strong in 2025 and in fact, the most active, according to attendees at the McDermott Will & Emery HPE NYC 2024 conference, which I attended yesterday.

You can read my takeaways from the conference in the full Wire coverage.

Honing talent

Despite its diverse uses and valuation creation potential in different industries, technology is only as good as the people using it.

This uniform theme was the main topic of discussion by Private Equity International reporter Rob Kotecki in the fifth episode of season three of the Disruption Matters podcast.

The episode focuses on tech’s role in recruiting, onboarding and developing talent, how PE firms are using it in portfolio company growth strategies and challenges around its use, including the limitations of AI in talent management.

Guests include Ted Bililies, the global leader of transformative leadership at AlixPartners; Nicole Jones, talent director, portfolio support group at Advent International; Christopher P Trendler, managing director and head of portfolio talent at Madison Dearborn Partners; and John Sander, principal, portfolio solutions at Lightyear Capital.

That’s it from me. If you have any questions, thoughts, or want to chat, please email me at john.fischer@pei.group.

Craig McGlashan will write to you on Monday with the Europe Wire, and MK Flynn will deliver the US edition.

Cheers,

John

Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

Elizabeth Weymouth, founder and managing partner of Grafine Partners, told Buyouts in a Q&A that she sees opportunities in LPs’ preference for sending big commitments to the largest firms. As mid-market and emerging managers struggle for a sip of a dwindling pool of capital, opportunities abound for investors who can co-invest alongside GPs.

New Private Markets queried Brian Kernohan, chief sustainability officer at Manulife Investment Management, on private markets’ attempts to tackle inequality vie email this week. He said it is still 'early days' but there has been 'positive movement' and a 'surge of interest' in the topic. (Kernohan will be delivering a keynote speech at New Private Markets' Impact & Transition Investor Summit in New York in November.) 

EQT is entering its next fundraising cycle, during which the firm is expecting to launch some 15 closed-end strategies, totalling €100 billion. (Private Equity International)

Chipping away at the maturity wall: A revived syndicated market and glut of refinancings appear to be challenging notions of problem loans engulfing the market in the years ahead. (Private Debt Investor)

Morgan Stanley’s private equity secondaries business and Hayfin have co-led a GP-led deal involving a drug company that was recently partially exited to KKR. (Secondaries Investor)

LGPS Central plans to make £100 million ($130 million; €120 million) in annual fund commitments under its newly launched indirect residential strategy, UK Residential Indirect Property Partnership, PERE has learned.

Volta Energy Technologies has closed on 28 percent of its second flagship fund, which is targeting $500 million. (Venture Capital Journal)

The fifth episode of the third season of the Disruption Matters podcast on Private Equity International explores how technology can help at every stage of the talent management process.

They said it

“The car remains the prevalent means of transportation and therefore parking remains a strategic asset.”

— Stefano Mion, Ardian’s co-head of infrastructure Americas, on parking lot investments