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Blackstone, L Catterton, GTCR and Roark Capital showed no signs of summer slowdown

Good morning, Hubsters. MK Flynn here with the Wire.

As August draws to a close, I want to take a moment to highlight a few deals announced this summer that I found particularly interesting and emblematic of current trends.

Blackstone, L Catterton, GTCR and Roark Capital top my list of dealmakers that beat the heat.

Speaking of Blackstone, Kirk Falconer has an exclusive interview about the firm’s Tactical Opportunities group and the wave of companies needing refinancing and seeking structured equity.

And Obey Martin Manayiti takes a look at Apollo’s recent investment in storage for natural gas and hydrogen.

Summer breeze makes me feel fine

While transactions slowed down for many, some PE firms were very active on the dealmaking front this summer, including some significant exits.

As the owner of a small, space-challenged co-op apartment in Manhattan, one deal that caught my attention was Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust’s sale of Simply Self Storage to Public Storage for $2.2 billion. Announced in July, the transaction is expected to close this quarter.

Subscribe to the premium version of the Wire to learn all about the deal.

Dazzling debut
Despite the supposedly closed IPO market, L Catterton-backed beauty tech company Oddity made a surprisingly successful public debut on July 19.

Looking for another homerun

Another deal announced in July that proved of great interest to PE Hub’s readers was GTCR’s agreement to acquire a majority stake in Worldpay, a provider of payment processing solutions, from FIS.

PE Hub’s Rafael Canton spoke with Aaron Cohen, managing director, head of financial services and technology at GTCR. Cohen compared the plans for Wordpay with GTCR’s past success with Paya.

If you didn’t read Rafael’s story then, click here to heck it out now. It was the most popular story on our site in July!

Eat fresh

And most recently, an announcement that proved PE still has an appetite for dealmaking was Roark Capital’s announcement last week that it is buying the popular fast-food chain Subway, in a deal reportedly worth $9.55 billion. 

What lies ahead

Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities, on track to raise nearly $10 billion, is preparing for a coming tsunami of refinancing deals.

Launched in 2012, Tac Opps was designed by Blackstone to be a flexible, opportunistic investor of bespoke, mostly non-control capital in assets, markets and sectors not covered by the private equity giant’s other funds. An all-weather strategy, it is at home in moments of dislocation.

Such a moment has arrived, Tac Opps global head David Blitzer told Kirk Falconer, following “the fastest and highest rate rise in history.”

Upgrade to read the exclusive interview.

Deep dive

The rising demand for cleaner alternatives to carbon-intensive fossil fuels attracted Apollo Global Management to invest in Composite Advanced Technologies (CATEC), a Houston-based manufacturer of storage cylinders for natural gas and hydrogen, Apollo partner Scott Browning told Obey Martin Manayiti.

That’s all for now. Obey will be back with more tomorrow, and then we’ll all be off for the three-day Labor Day weekend.

Note: There will be no Wire newsletter on Monday. I’ll see you Tuesday.

Enjoy!

MK

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