CVC delays IPO plans; US IT M&A volume cools

CVC Capital Partners Ltd. has postponed its plans for its IPO due to market uncertainty, according to reports this week.

The Europe private equity heavyweight, which had originally planned to list in June 2021, now expects to IPO in autumn or early in 2023, London's Financial Times reported, citing sources. The firm was valued at about €15 billion when it agreed to sell a minority stake to Blue Owl Capital Inc.'s Dyal Capital Partners unit last year, the report said.

CVC would join a number of private equity peers who opted to list in 2021, including Bridgepoint Group PLC, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in July last year.

Sixteen alternative asset managers with a private equity focus listed in 2021, far outpacing the annual totals recorded in each of the previous four years, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data pulled in January.

Private equity firms Ardian and L Catterton Partners are also said to be mulling public listings.

CHART OF THE WEEK: PE is top buyer by value in US IT

⮞ The U.S. IT M&A market continued to cool off in April with 176 transactions, compressing 27.0% from the year-ago month, according to data from Market Intelligence.

⮞ The top M&A announcement of the month by value was Brookfield Business Partners LP's $8.42 billion agreement for CDK Global, a software solutions provider for automotive retailers and manufacturers. Thoma Bravo LP took the second-largest transaction of the month with its $7.46 billion acquisition of cybersecurity company SailPoint Technologies Holdings Inc.

⮞ The drop in deal valuations correlates to a drop in market valuations for publicly traded technology companies. U.S. publicly traded acquirers announced fewer than 50% of the number of billion-dollar deals they made in the same period in 2021, according to 451 Research data.

FUNDRAISING AND DEALS

* Fund affiliates of The Carlyle Group Inc. are buying NSM Insurance Group Inc. from White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2022, values NSM at approximately $1.78 billion.

* Blackstone Inc.'s energy arm, Blackstone Energy Partners LP, agreed to buy a majority stake in environmental engineering and design consulting firm Geosyntec Consultants Inc.

* South American retailer Cencosud SA is buying a 67% stake in The Fresh Market Holdings Inc. from Apollo Global Management Inc. for $676 million. Existing Fresh Market shareholders, including the Apollo funds, will keep a minority stake in the specialty grocer.

* Ardian bought a stake in Nutripure, a digital food supplement and organic superfood brand.

ELSEWHERE IN THE INDUSTRY

* Foresight Group Holdings Ltd. fund purchased a majority stake in MaresConnect, a proposed 750-MW electricity interconnector linking the power markets of Ireland and Great Britain, for an undisclosed price.

* Founders Fund Inc. led a $100 million series C financing round for Material Security Inc. Other investors included Elad Gil and Andreessen Horowitz LLC.

* Monroe Capital LLC closed its Monroe Capital Opportunistic Private Credit Fund I with investable capital of about $500 million. The fund raised $286 million of limited partner commitments, along with about $215 million of targeted leverage.

* Black Bay Energy Capital LLC closed its second fund, Black Bay Energy II LP, with total commitments of $210 million.

FOCUS ON: HEALTHCARE SERVICES

* Arsenal Capital Partners agreed to purchase a majority stake in OncoHealth, a digital health company with a focus on cancer patients.

* Angeles Equity Partners LLC invested in Agile Occupational Medicine PC, an occupational healthcare clinic operator.

* Audax Private Equity wrapped up the sale of Lifemark Health Group, an outpatient physiotherapy and mental-health company, to Loblaw Cos. Ltd.

451 Research is part of S&P Global Market Intelligence.