Morning Hubs!
This is Chris, on for Wire Wednesday.
Before we begin, a quick announcement: We're starting to work on our annual Women in PE feature that runs in March. We're looking for recommendations from you, Dear Reader, on rock star women in the industry. We're mostly interested in women working on the deal side of the business, since that is the area that has traditionally been dominated by men, but we will include women who work in IR and on the LP side as well. Send your recs to me (christopher.w@pei.group) by Jan. 19. Nominations should include short bios of the candidate that include accomplishments both in their professional career as well as a snapshot of activities outside of work.
The Women in PE feature includes 10 mini-profiles of superstar women in the business as the March cover story, along with additional feature coverage. (Let us know if you have thoughts on some topics to touch on.) Check out past coverage here.
Today we have:
• A run down of five deals for power and utility-focused EPC companies.
• Venture-backed Electric Sheep eyes new PE fund for acquisitions.
• Palladium Equity is looking to extend its hold over three assets in a GP-led deal.
Let’s get to it:
Power
Today we have a breakdown of five recent PE deals involving the power and utility sector from Michael Schoeck. Sponsors are targeting power and utility engineering, procurement and construction contractors as utilities try to keep up with government demands for new renewable energy projects. The outlook is strong with the expectation of further contractual activity growth through the decade, Michael writes.
AI and landscaping
Electric Sheep, backed by Foundation Capital, Tiger Global and other VCs, announced this morning the acquisition of two landscaping businesses, Westar Landscaping and Caliscapes, writes Rafael Canton on PE Hub. The company had completed two previous acquisitions of landscaping businesses in the last few months. In October, the company bought Phenix Landscape and Complete Landscaping. Upgrade to the premium version of the Wire to read more.
(Oh and yes, the company's name comes from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the Philip K Dick novel that inspired Blade Runner.)
More time
Palladium Equity is running a deal to extend its hold over three assets, while delivering liquidity back to LPs in the older fund, sources said. The deal involves Sky Zone; Del Real Foods; and Jordan’s Skinny Mixes, all from Palladium’s fourth fund, which it closed on $1.14 billion in 2014. Total net asset value in the deal is about $450 million, sources said. Read more here on Buyouts.
That’s it for me! Have a great rest of your Wednesday. Hit me up with tips n’ gossip, feedback and/or book recommendations at christopher.w@pei.group or find me on LinkedIn.
Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ...