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Serent banked on booming sports market in exit of Kore; Bain Capital Double Impact bets on mid-market buyouts

Happy hump day, PE Hubsters! Rafael Canton here with the US edition of the Wire from the New York newsroom.

First, we’ll start the Wire off with a deep dive into Serent’s exit of Kore. The San Francisco-based PE firm sold Kore to Charterhouse Capital Partners-backed Two Circles.

Next, let’s take a look at Bain Capital, which has purchased US crop nutrition company BW Fusion through its impact arm Bain Capital Double Impact.

Then, we have the final episode of the third season of the Disruption Matters podcast miniseries. The conversation centers around how best to create value using AI and other technology.

Finally, we have a look at Harris Williams’ report highlighting the ingredients subsector and why it’s attractive to investors.

Building software to scale

Let’s begin the Wire with a deal in the sports tech world. Serent Capital recently exited Kore, selling the company to Charterhouse Capital Partners-backed Two Circles. To learn more about the deal, I caught up with Serent partner Stewart Lynn about the deal.

Premium subscribers to the Wire can learn more about the strategies Serent utilized to grow Kore before exit.

Mid-market buyouts

Bain Capital, through its impact arm Bain Capital Double Impact, has purchased US crop nutrition company BW Fusion.

Subscribe to the premium version of the Wire to learn more about the deal.

Adopting technology

Let’s keep the technology conversation going. The Disruption Matters podcast miniseries is back to cap its third season. The sixth and final episode continues the discussion about how private markets can best use today’s technologies to create value.

PE Hub has been keeping up with the technological advances PE firms are making. Earlier in November, I caught up with Blackstone chief technology officer John Stecher about what challenges PE firms are facing today in technology and an update on new advancements for Blackstone in its use of AI in deal sourcing and dealmaking.

“Technology changes, but it changes at a linear rate if you’re exposed to it every single day,” Stecher said.

“The biggest challenge … is understanding how you take an evolving technology universe and apply it to evolving business problems.”

Find out more about the episode with the premium version of the Wire.

The special ingredient

The ingredients market is a large and growing landscape according to a report from Harris Williams.

There were a handful of PE deals included in the report from this year. In August, MidOcean Partners-backed QualiTech acquired Ellison Bakery, a Fort Wayne, Indiana-based maker of bakery products. In March, Peak Rock Capital acquired California Custom Fruits & Flavors, a developer of specialty ingredients and flavors.

Subscribe to the premium version of the Wire to access the report and see what factors are contributing to interest in ingredients.

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, Craig McGlashan will be with you for the Europe edition of the Wire and Obey Martin Manayiti will bring you the US edition.

Cheers,

Rafael

Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

OpenGate Capital, led by ex-Platinum Equity executive Andrew Nikou, is “leaning into” the uncertain markets and refining its strategy back to what it has done best, meaning a refocusing on corporate carve-outs in mid-market industrials, sources told Buyouts.

Oleg Shamovsky has departed his role as managing partner at Arjun Infrastructure Partners after just six months, Infrastructure Investor understands.

Buy-and-lease is well into its second act: The farmland strategy has swung wholesale from being almost exclusively a closed-end play to an open-end strategy – but its evolution is far from over. (Agri Investor)

Those championing sustainability in private markets, in particular when it comes to climate action, should not be fazed by the return of President-elect Donald Trump, according to Kurt Björklund, executive chairman of private markets firm Permira and an advocate for sustainble investing. (New Private Markets)

Just a few months ago, Blackstone’s global head of Strategic Partners, Verdun Perry, predicted the secondaries market would see $140 billion in volume by the end of 2024. Now, he is predicting a larger figure, followed by another leap in 2025. (Secondaries Investor)

Private Funds CFO has a Q&A with Tim Eberle, managing director of waterfall services at Citco, on how to mitigate heightened clawback risk.

Lexington Partners and StepStone have emerged as co-lead buyers on Milan-based impact firm Ambienta’s single-asset continuation fund, Secondaries Investor understands.

InfraRed Capital Partners has announced the final close of its value-add sixth flagship fund, InfraRed Infrastructure Fund VI. More than 90 percent of the $1 billion of commitments were to the primary fund and the rest in co-investment vehicles and separately managed accounts. (Infrastructure Investor)

Japanese private equity has been a big “upside surprise” for KKR, according to co-chief executive Joseph Bae. “If you look at our global private equity returns in every single country around the world, our best returns are in Japan, in private equity,” he told delegates at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s 2024 Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit. (Private Equity International)

BNP Paribas Asset Management has held a $130 million first close for its debut timberland investment vehicle. The Article 9 BNP Paribas Future Forest Fund has a $500 million fundraising target and a $750 million hard-cap. (Agri Investor)

They said it

“Technology changes, but it changes at a linear rate if you’re exposed to it every single day. The biggest challenge … is understanding how you take an evolving technology universe and apply it to evolving business problems.”

— John Stecher, chief technology officer, Blackstone on the challenges of adopting new technology