S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of global private equity news stories and more published throughout the week.
As private equity fundraising evolves, so too may views on a key private equity metric: dry powder.
The global private equity industry held nearly $2.2 trillion in aggregate dry powder — capital pledged by limited partners to private equity funds but not yet deployed into deals — as of March 31, according to the latest available data from Preqin. The spring total represented a more than 5% decline from December 2023's $2.305 trillion, the highest year-end total on record.
Taking a regular measure of dry powder is one way to track private equity's capacity for dealmaking in the years ahead. But it does not reflect the capital held in evergreen fund structures, which are proliferating as the global industry seeks to tap the huge pools of capital held by the retail market — the trillions in investable savings held by wealthy individuals across the globe.
Evergreen funds are bound to become an increasingly important source of private equity capital as regulatory guardrails, which kept all but the ultra-rich out of risky private market investments, begin to fall.
Read more about private equity and venture capital dry powder receding from record highs.
CHART OF THE WEEK: Private equity penetration rates in Latin America and the Caribbean
⮞ The percentage of private equity- and venture capital-backed companies was higher in Uruguay than any other country in Latin America and the Caribbean as of early December, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
⮞ Private equity-backed companies accounted for 4.38% of all private companies in Uruguay as of Dec. 2.
⮞ That compares to a private equity penetration rate of 2.28% for the region.
TOP DEALS
– Montagu Private Equity LLP and Kohlberg & Co. LLC struck a deal to acquire Teleflex Inc.'s Teleflex Medical OEM LLC for $1.5 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026. Raymond James & Associates Inc. is the buyers' financial adviser, while Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Ropes & Gray LLP are legal advisers. Centerview Partners LLC is Teleflex's financial adviser, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is its legal adviser.
– Blackstone Inc. is acquiring MacLean Power LLC, doing business as MacLean Power Systems, from Centerbridge Partners LP. MacLean, a manufacturer of engineered components, will be merged with Power Grid Components Inc. Barclays, UBS and Jefferies were financial advisers to Blackstone and Power Grid, while Vinson & Elkins was a legal adviser. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Wells Fargo Securities and Lincoln International were financial advisers to Centerbridge and MacLean, while Kirkland & Ellis was their legal adviser.
– Cinven Ltd. agreed to make a majority investment in London-based professional services firm Flint Global Ltd. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year.
TOP FUNDRAISING
– Centre Court Capital closed its maiden sports-focused venture fund at 4.10 billion Indian rupees. The fund aims to make up to 18 investments in sports, fitness, wellness and social gaming businesses in India.
– Integrity Growth Partners LP raised $220 million at the close of its fund, which will invest in bootstrapped business-to-business software and technology-enabled companies.
– Ardian SAS launched Ardian Access Infrastructure SICAV-RAIF, an evergreen infrastructure fund. The fund targets exposure to more than 20 infrastructure assets.
MIDDLE-MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
– Kingswood Capital Management LP agreed to buy in-flight entertainment and connectivity systems provider Safran Passenger Innovations LLC from Safran SA. Goodwin Procter LLP and Configure Partners are advising Kingswood on the transaction.
– An Angeles Equity Partners LLC affiliate exited its investment in Xanitos Inc., a healthcare environmental services company, to an affiliate of Bessemer Investment Partners. Solomon Partners was financial adviser and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was legal adviser to Angeles and Xanitos on the deal. KeyBanc Capital Markets was financial adviser to Bessemer, while Sidley Austin LLP was legal counsel.
– Altor Equity Partners AB agreed to buy Finland-based water and waste management systems provider Evac Oy from Bridgepoint Group PLC. Krogerus was Altor's lead legal adviser on the transaction, and DNB Carnegie was the private equity firm's M&A adviser.
FOCUS ON: HEAD COUNT GROWTH AT AI STARTUPS
More than 300 AI companies recorded sustained head count growth over the past two years, adding more than 25% annually to their workforce since 2023, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
Search engine Perplexity AI Inc. increased its head count by 2,300% to 1,320 in June, up from 55 for the same month in 2023.
AI hiring platform Mercor.io Corp.'s head count in June 2025 was 659, an increase of 1,783% from 35 in June 2023.
Private equity- and venture capital-backed investments in AI between Jan. 1 and Dec. 11 totaled $224.52 billion, almost double the full-year total of $132.71 billion in 2024, Market Intelligence data shows. The number of deals in 2025 year to date stood at 3,033, compared with 3,427 for full year 2024.
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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.
For private debt news, see our latest private debt newsletter issued twice per month.
