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Hello {{first_name|friends}}, welcome back. While New Yorkers are digging out of blizzard conditions, the market remains hot.
Today we’re tracking wide range of deals including:
A $1.1B take-private of a national home health and hospice operator
A $3.4B multifamily REIT going dark
Hamilton Lane deploying $500M into fiber infrastructure
Qatar's sovereign wealth fund backing a two-year-old direct lending shop
An AI-native CLM software company closing its majority deal
EQT's energy platform acquiring a gigawatt-scale data center land developer.
And in the background, Bain dropping its annual PE report with a number that should be on every LP's radar: distributions as a percentage of NAV stuck at 14% for four straight years, worse by duration than 2008, with $3.8 trillion in unsold assets still sitting on the shelf. The industry is moving again, but the plumbing is still clogged.
Let's dive in.
Kinderhook Industries
Enhabit Take-Private
Kinderhook is taking Enhabit private at roughly $1.1B enterprise value, paying $13.80 per share (a 24.4% premium to the Feb 20 close and 33.8% above the 60-day VWAP).
Enhabit operates 249 home health and 117 hospice locations across 34 states. The deal removes public market pressure from home-based care operators and gives Kinderhook room to invest in clinical quality and growth. Expected close Q2 2026.
Vistria Group
Lumen Holdings Launch
Vistria is establishing Lumen Holdings as a new platform within its Financial Services strategy.
Lumen is a tech-enabled MGA founded in 2019 that underwrites commercial property, builders' risk, CGL, personal auto, homeowners, and umbrella across 30+ states, all running through its proprietary KURRENT digital underwriting platform. The post-close board brings serious insurance pedigree: Albert Benchimol (former CEO, AXIS Capital), Mark Smith (former President, K2 Insurance Services), and Brian McDermott (former CIO, Victor Insurance).
Haveli Investments
Sirion Investment
Haveli closed its majority investment in Sirion today, completing a deal first announced January 8. Sirion is the global leader in AI-native contract lifecycle management software, serving enterprises across 70+ countries with 7M+ contracts in 100+ languages.
The platform runs on its proprietary agentOS AI foundation and has averaged 40%+ annual growth over five years while recently turning profitable.
Hamilton Lane
Vero Networks Investment
Hamilton Lane led a $500M non-control growth equity round into Vero Networks, a Boulder-based fiber infrastructure provider founded in 2017.
Vero designs, builds, owns, and operates fiber serving residential FTTH, K-12 schools, government, enterprises, wireless carriers, and hyperscale cloud providers. Co-investors include Braemont Capital and Delta-v Capital. Hamilton Lane manages $1.0T in AUM.
From our Sponsor:
ACORE Capital
CRE CLO
ACORE closed its first managed CRE CLO at $1.1B. The initial collateral pool covers 22 loans secured primarily by multifamily and industrial properties across 15 states. Wells Fargo served as sole structuring agent; JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Capital One were joint bookrunners.
Eldridge
ProPetro / PROPWR Facility
Eldridge closed a $350M lease facility with PROPWR, ProPetro's power generation solutions division, targeting 750 MW delivered by 2028 across oilfield, industrial, and datacenter sectors. Since 2025, Eldridge has committed $2B+ across 2.4 gigawatts in the power space.
Cohen & Company Asset Management
PriDe IV Fund
Cohen & Company Asset Management closed PriDe IV at EUR 481.5 million, its largest European vintage ever.
The fund invests in Tier II capital instruments issued by small and mid-sized insurance companies in Europe with limited capital market access. Alma Capital raised 43% of commitments; Bury Street Capital raised 31%.
GHK Capital Partners - GHK acquired CPL, a 500-person AEC firm with 25 offices across 8 states serving healthcare, education, and civic infrastructure. Plans active M&A to build a national-scale firm.
Scale - EQT-backed Scale acquired Reload, a powered land development platform for gigawatt-scale data center campuses, recently contracting a multi-hundred megawatt on-site energy system for a leading hyperscaler.
Frazier Healthcare Partners - RevSpring acquired TrustCommerce, a 25-year-old healthcare payment and security solutions provider backed by Waud Capital, processing 60M+ payment transactions and collecting $14B+ in patient payments annually.
Goldman Sachs Alternatives - Goldman-backed Center for Social Dynamics acquired Behavior Change Institute, a New Mexico autism services provider, expanding CSD's Southwest footprint.
MPE Partners - MPE exited MSHS & PPG, a Fort Lauderdale-based MRO solutions provider for power generation, marine, and national security industries, via sale to ISS, a Wynnchurch Capital portfolio company.
Affinity Equity Partners - Affinity completed its exit from Burger King Japan, selling 100% to Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Under Affinity's ownership since 2017, BKJH scaled from 8 to 337+ locations with revenue up nearly 300-fold.
Turning Rock Partners - Turning Rock majority exited AmeriQual, an Evansville, IN food company serving branded food companies, government agencies, and schools, via growth recapitalization.
Ancient Financial - Newly formed reinsurance platform Ancient Financial agreed to acquire F&G Life Re Ltd. from F&G Annuities & Life, with CEO Erich Schram (former Head of Blackstone's Insurance Portfolios) at the helm.
L Squared Capital Partners - L Squared acquired Functional Devices, a Sharpsville, IN manufacturer of relay and control solutions for building automation, with the flagship RIB (Relay in a Box) brand as the industry standard.
Capital Constellation - Wafra's Capital Constellation formed a strategic partnership with Gallatin Point Capital, a Greenwich-based financial services firm with ~$6B AUM co-founded by former BlackRock and Obama Treasury veterans Matthew Botein and Lee Sachs.
Bluestone Equity Partners - Bluestone announced a three-year jersey sponsorship with USA Archery ahead of the 2028 LA Olympics. Founder Bobby Sharma served on USA Archery's board from 2021 to 2024.
Bear Creek Partners - Bear Creek invested in ARG, a McLean, VA technology advisory firm focused on cloud, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and digital transformation, aiming to become the first true national direct-selling agency at scale.
Green Heron Partners - Houston-based Green Heron invested in Regency Plumbing Contractors, a 40-year-old commercial and industrial plumbing company, as a facility services platform. CEO Tracy Stephens retains significant ownership.
Galaxy Service Partners - Galaxy acquired AM/PM Door, a 35-year-old commercial overhead door and automatic gate service company in Greater Los Angeles. Galaxy's 7th acquisition since launching in 2025.
NMS Capital - NMS-backed HWP Group acquired Global Market Access Solutions, a market access and health economics consultancy, expanding HWP's life sciences capabilities across HEOR, pricing, payer insights, and evidence synthesis.
MD Holdings - MD Holdings partnered with FactoryMation, a Canton, GA founder-led e-commerce distributor of electrical components with 20+ years in operation. Founder Russ Sanders remains involved.
Edison Partners - Edison led a $15M growth equity round into Payra, a Nashville-based B2B payments and AR automation platform for construction businesses on legacy ERPs. Payra hit $10M+ revenue run rate within 15 months of launch.
Hudson Sustainable Group - Eagle Point Credit provided $28.5M in senior secured financing to Heritage Energy Holdings, a Texas ERCOT distributed energy platform operating battery storage and solar across ~40 load-adjacent sites.
Faropoint - APG, the Dutch pension asset manager, committed to Faropoint's Industrial Value Fund IV, targeting $1B across last-mile urban logistics in 16 U.S. markets. Fund IV secured a $600M acquisition credit facility from KeyBank in January.
Qatar Investment Authority - QIA became lead investor in 5C Investment Partners, a direct lending platform launched in 2024 by former Goldman Sachs veterans Tom Connolly and Michael Koester with ~$3B in long-term investable capital.
Bain & Company dropped its 17th annual Global PE Report today, and the headline isn't pretty. Distributions to LPs as a percentage of NAV held flat at 14% in 2025, a level not seen since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis, and the duration of the slump now officially exceeds what the industry endured then. Four straight years below 15% is a new record. The industry is sitting on 32,000 unsold companies worth $3.8 trillion, with average holding periods at exit hovering around seven years. Buyout fundraising dropped 16% to $395 billion, and the total number of funds closed fell 23% for the category.
The silver lining: 2025 deal value surged 44% to $904 billion (second highest ever), exits jumped 47% to $717 billion, and Bain's outlook for 2026 is cautiously optimistic. But the firm's central thesis is sobering. In the old era, a deal needed roughly 5% annual EBITDA growth to hit a 2.5x MOIC. Today, with higher rates, compressed leverage, and record purchase multiples, that number is closer to 12%. Bain calls it "12 is the new 5." The firms that figure out how to generate that kind of operational improvement consistently will pull away from the pack. The ones that don't will quietly become zombies.
Altas Partners - Michael Georgas joined as Director, AI & Advanced Analytics in the Portfolio Solutions Group. MIT PhD in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science; previously Sr. Director of AI at Apply Digital and Case Team Leader at Bain.
H.I.G. WhiteHorse Europe - Andy Armah-Kwantreng and Marimba Odundo-Mendez joined to lead the UK Direct Lending platform. Armah-Kwantreng comes in as Managing Director, previously MD in Sponsor Leveraged Finance at NatWest with 16 years across Bank of Ireland and Societe Generale. Odundo-Mendez joins as Principal, bringing senior leveraged finance experience from J.P. Morgan and Nomura after beginning her career in law at Kirkland & Ellis and DLA Piper.
Hidden Harbor Capital Partners - Nine firmwide promotions: Tucker Coates to Managing Director, Business Development; Matthew Goracy to Principal, Investment Team; Charles Goodman to Principal, Portfolio Operations; Steven Bello to Director, Portfolio Operations; Allison Goldman to Director, Marketing & Operations; and Associates Armando Zapata, Jorge Salazar, Cameron Klassen, and Connor Dewhirst across Investment and Business Development.
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That's the wrap. More deals coming your way tomorrow.
- Private Markets Minute Team