S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of global private equity news stories and more published throughout the week.
Top-dollar deal
* Microsoft Corp. agreed to acquire software development platform GitHub Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at $7.5 billion. Analysts argued that both parties stand to gain from the transaction, which they said should allow Microsoft to further pursue opportunities in the open-source software space while giving GitHub access to expanded resources.
Andreessen Horowitz, Institutional Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital and Thrive Capital were among the private equity backers of GitHub, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. GitHub will be integrated with Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud segment once the deal is finalized, expected by the end of 2018.
![]() The French headquarters of Microsoft Corp. in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris Source: Associated Press |
Notable PE transactions
* Devon Energy Corp. is selling its stakes in EnLink Midstream Partners LP, EnLink Midstream LLC and Enlink Midstream Manager LLC to an affiliate of fund manager Global Infrastructure Partners in an approximately $3.13 billion transaction set to close in July.
* Strategic Value Partners LLC and its affiliates agreed to sell their 100% stake in the owner and operator of an incinerator on London's River Thames, Cory Riverside Energy, to a consortium of funds that include Dalmore Capital (Issuer 1) Ltd. for more than £1.5 billion.
* Thoma Bravo LLC sold corporate performance management software provider PowerPlan Inc. in a $1.1 billion deal with Roper Technologies Inc.
* Private equity firm Advent International Corp. agreed to acquire an 80% stake in retail giant Walmart Inc.'s Brazilian operations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
* A fund managed by private investment firm Seidler Equity Partners LP is set to buy Newell Brands Inc.'s sports equipment manufacturing unit, Rawlings Sporting Goods Co. Inc.
* Media-focused private equity firm ABRY Partners LLC is picking up a controlling stake in Screenvision Media. Sources for AdWeek pegged the deal value at $380 million. The cinema advertising company's owners, Shamrock Capital Advisors LLC and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., will keep minority stakes in the company.
* U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC and former Banco Santander SA CEO Javier Marín Romano reached a deal to take over Self Trade Bank SAU, the Spanish division of French financial group Société Générale SA unit Boursorama SASelf Trade Bank SAU.
* Royal Resources, owned by funds managed by Blackstone Energy Partners and Blackstone Capital Partners LP, agreed to merge with special-purpose acquisition entity Osprey Energy Acquisition Corp. to form a roughly $894 million oil and gas minerals company focused on the Eagle Ford and Austin Chalk shale plays.
* U.S. Food and Drug Administration-compliance services provider Registrar LLC was purchased by private equity firm Bertram Capital Management LLC.
In play
* Oil majors BP PLC and Chevron Corp. made initial buyout offers of up to US$9 billion for BHP Billiton Group's U.S. shale business. A Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Blackstone Group LP consortium also bid for the entire unit, and Apollo Global Management LLC offered to buy individual assets, unnamed sources told Bloomberg News.
* In Europe, Apax Partners is weighing a sale of Belgium-based specialty chemicals distributor Azelis SA for up to €2 billion, undisclosed sources told The Wall Street Journal.
* Private equity firms Cinven Ltd. and Bain Capital LP are looking to acquire the Recordati family's stake in Italian drugmaker Recordati SpA, Bloomberg News reported, citing unidentified sources.
Capital commitments
* Manulife Financial Corp. received a $1 billion commitment from French private equity firm Ardian for John Hancock Infrastructure Fund LP, which has a fundraising target of up to $2 billion, unnamed sources told WSJ.
* L Catterton, formerly known as Catterton Partners, has pulled in roughly $844.4 million thus far for its third Asian fund, which is seeking up to $1.25 billion. The private equity and venture capital firm also agreed to invest $200 million in baby and beauty e-commerce retailer The Honest Co.
* Hamilton Lane Inc. raised about $900 million for its fourth Strategic Opportunities Fund, which focuses on credit-oriented investments.
New funds on the block
* OppenheimerFunds Inc. joined forces with private equity firm Carlyle Group LP to roll out a private debt interval fund, Reuters reported, without disclosing a fundraising goal.
* Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC debuted a $500 million commercial real estate debt fund, with the goal of acquiring subordinated and securitized debt issued by U.S. federal government-backed entities.
The VC beat
* Late-stage venture capital firm Meritech Capital Partners, which had backed tech giants such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc., drew $630.0 million for its sixth venture fund.
* Vornado Realty Trust spinoff and pop-up hotel operator WhyHotel secured $3.9 million in seed capital. The funding round was led by venture capital firm Camber Creek, which separately closed a $30 million fund that aims to support real estate technology startups.
Movers and shakers
* Healthcare-focused private equity firms Water Street Healthcare Partners and JLL Partners picked former OptumRx CEO Mark Thierer as chairman of their global life sciences services platform, as Jim Lang transitions to the CEO role.
* Former Bain & Co. partner Read Simmons joined Vista Equity Partners Management LLC as president of Vista Consulting Group.
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