Good morning, dealmakers. MK Flynn here with the Wire. Just a blip? With inflation data likely to prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates higher than expected this week, we’re asking our sources what the impact will be on private equity-backed deals. Chris Lund, Monroe Capital’s co-portfolio manager, institutional vehicles, hopped on a quick call with me early this morning to share his insights. An interest rate hike by the Fed of .75 versus .50 “shouldn’t move the needle for any PE firm,” Lund said. “If any deal a PE firm is going to make is not attractive because the LIBOR and SOFR rates are 4 percent instead of 3 percent, it’s probably not a deal they should make in the first place,” he said. “The best thing possible for the US economy, the middle market and PE firms, is for the Fed to get inflation under control as quickly as possible, so more action sooner is the best thing for the industry.” What are your thoughts? How will higher interest rates and higher inflation affect your deals? I’d love to hear from you at [email protected] Wealth management. As we enter a new economic cycle with a new set of challenges, it seems likely that more people are seeking investment advice. To that end, we’re seeing more PE deals involving wealth managers. Last week, Lovell Minnick Partners announced the acquisition of London & Capital, a wealth manager based in London. PE Hub reporter Nina Lindholm spoke with folks from LMP and London & Capital, and she’ll have more on that deal later in the week. More money. Just yesterday, Genstar Capital announced an investment in Cerity Partners, which is based in New York. With approximately $50 billion in AUM, Cerity says it is one of the largest and fastest growing independent full-service wealth managers in the US. We’ll be looking for more transactions in the wealth management sector. That’s all for now. Buyouts’ Chris Witkowsky writes the Wire on Wednesdays, so I’ll see you on Thursday. Wishing you well until then, MK Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ... | 