S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of global private equity news stories and more published throughout the week.
Credit market anxiety appeared to take some of the shine off of third-quarter earnings for private equity's Big Four listed firms.
The average net positivity score assigned to the third-quarter earnings call transcripts of Blackstone Inc., Apollo Global Management Inc., KKR & Co. Inc. and The Carlyle Group Inc. fell to a two-year low, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis of the language used by executives and analysts.
A slight quarter-over-quarter increase in the average net positivity score for S&P 500 firms' third-quarter earnings call transcripts contrasted starkly with the sudden dive by the Big Four. The sentiment trend lines for the two groups diverged significantly for the first time in over a year.
Rising concerns about credit quality following recent US auto sector bankruptcies were the likely culprit, prompting Big Four executives to spend time reassuring investors and analysts about the outlook for their growing private credit businesses. The phrase "systemic risk" appears in three of the four alternative asset managers' call transcripts.
The job did not end there for KKR. Executives also had to explain the decision to repay compensation they had received from KKR's underperforming KKR Asian Fund II LP, a 2013-vintage buyout fund unlikely to deliver a profit for investors.
Read more about the performance updates and outlook shared on the Big Four's third-quarter earnings calls.
CHART OF THE WEEK: Baltics lead Europe on private equity buy-in
⮞ Ranking European countries by the percentage of private companies with venture capital or private equity backing puts the Baltic region at the top of the list, Market Intelligence data shows.
⮞ Latvia ranks first with a private equity penetration rate of 3.28%, followed by Lithuania, at 2.61%. Estonia is fifth with a rate of 1.46%.
⮞ Strong government support for venture capital investment throughout the Baltic region is a major factor in its relatively high private equity penetration rates.
TOP DEALS
– Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC (CD&R) agreed to acquire food and protective packaging company Sealed Air Corp. for $10.3 billion in an all-cash transaction, confirming media reports. Sealed Air stockholders will receive $42.15 per share, a 41% premium over the company's stock price as of Aug. 14. BofA Securities, BNP Paribas Securities Corp, Citi, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Lazard, Mizuho, RBC Capital Markets, UBS Investment Bank and Wells Fargo were financial advisers to CD&R, with Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP serving as legal counsel. Evercore was the financial adviser to Sealed Air, with Latham & Watkins LLP providing legal counsel.
– Bain Capital LP acquired a stake in private gold and country club operator Concert Golf Partners LLC, marking an exit for Clearlake Capital Group LP. Moelis & Co. LLC was financial adviser and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz was legal counsel to Concert Golf and Clearlake on the transaction. Goldman Sachs & Co. and Rothschild & Co were financial advisers, while Kirkland & Ellis LLP was legal counsel to Bain.
– TPG Inc. and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, now known as La Caisse, are set to buy a majority stake in construction and engineering services company Pike Corp. Moelis & Co. LLC is financial adviser and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is legal adviser to TPG, with Ropes & Gray LLP serving as financing counsel. A&O Shearman is legal adviser to La Caisse. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is financial adviser and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is legal adviser to Pike.
TOP FUNDRAISING
– KKR & Co. Inc. aims to raise $15 billion for its fifth Asia private equity fund, Reuters reported, citing three people with knowledge of the matter. The fund will invest in consumer, life sciences, financial services, healthcare and industrial companies, according to the report.
– Warburg Pincus LLC raised more than $12 billion at the initial close of its latest global private equity fund, Bloomberg News reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The fund targets $17 billion.
– BVP Forge II, a fund managed by Bessemer Venture Partners, raised $1 billion. The vehicle focuses on growth buyout and significant minority investments in technology and services companies.
– France-based Sofinnova Partners SAS closed its latest flagship fund, Sofinnova Capital XI, at €650 million, exceeding its initial target. The European life sciences venture capital firm will use the fund to back biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies.
MIDDLE-MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
– Vance Street Management LLC acquired medical device company Injectech LLC in a deal with The West Group. Injectech was added to Vance Street's newly formed VSC Medical Molding platform.
– Nordic Capital agreed to buy a majority stake in Danish healthcare technology company Evosep Aps. As part of the transaction, minority stakeholders EIFO and Novo Holdings A/S will sell their respective stakes in the company. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
– Ara Partners Group LLC purchased a majority controlling stake in Centric Fiber LLC, a provider of fiber-to-the-home broadband infrastructure. Kirkland & Ellis LLP and RBC Capital Markets advised Ara, while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Guggenheim Securities LLC advised Centric.
FOCUS ON: PRIVATE EQUITY INVESTMENTS IN CONTAINERS AND PACKAGING
Private equity- and venture capital-backed investments in containers and packaging companies climbed in 2025, according to Market Intelligence data.
Excluding CD&R's $10.3 billion planned acquisition of Sealed Air, deal value in the sector totaled $1.43 billion between Jan. 1 and Nov. 20, already exceeding the $1.39 billion full-year total in 2024.
The number of deals stood at 34 in 2025 through Nov. 20, compared with 46 deals in all of 2024.
Other recent deals in the sector include KKR's $528.2 million acquisition of South Korean cosmetic packaging maker Samhwa P&T Co.Ltd. from TPG, as well as CD&R's €290 million investment in Germany-based Kalle GmbH, which makes sausage casings for processed meat products.
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For further private equity deals, read our latest "In Play" report , which looks at potential private equity-backed M&A, including rumored transactions, each week.
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