Morning all, Craig McGlashan here with the Europe Wire from the London newsroom.
We hear a lot about the importance of a local presence and knowledge in the European private equity market. So we’re opening with a lookback at some European deals in 2024 by private equity firms that had recently opened offices in their targets’ countries.
Next, we’ve got a new deal as Inflexion buys a stake in Sweden’s Mecenat.
We then round up some highlights from our most-read stories of 2024.
To finish, we put on our art critic hat (or should I say cowboy hat?) to give you a brief review of Blackstone’s latest Holiday video.
Location, location, location
If private equity dealmaking is all about forging relationships, then having a presence and local knowledge in a potential target’s country is vital – especially as the industry becomes increasingly cross-border in nature.
Many firms have been planting flags in European hubs, whether it’s sponsors from the continent expanding their reach or GPs from the US looking for a European presence. I looked at deals this year in the three biggest European economies that benefited from the recent opening of a hub.
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Connections
Inflexion was one of the firms in the Germany section of that story, but this morning it’s made a deal via its Stockholm office, buying a stake in Mecenat.
Find out more in the premium version of the Wire.
Highlights of the year
With 2024 coming to a close, I rounded up some of our London newsroom’s most-read stories of the year for some analysis on what was important to our subscribers this year.
Read the highlights in the premium version of the Wire.
Like a Blackstone Cowboy
Finally, the PE Hub team has been digesting the latest Holiday video from Blackstone (it’s on YouTube if you haven’t seen it yet).
Our key takeaway (SPOILER ALERT)?
Who’d have thought the star of Blackstone’s Holiday video would have been Larry Fink?
That’s all from me this week. John R Fischer will write the US Wire from New York later today and I’ll be back on Europe duty on Monday.
Have a great weekend,
Craig
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