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Platinum Equity scores a big sale; Azra Kanji shares insights on starting her own firm; NEXUS launches

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

This promises to be an exciting week!

Tomorrow, I’ll head to Orlando for PEI Group’s NEXUS 2024 summit March 6-8.

See below for details on the summit. And stay tuned! I’ll be sharing insights from NEXUS here on the Wire later in the week.

Another project we’ve been working on at PE Hub and Buyouts is our annual Women in PE special report, which showcases 10 “rockstars” each year. Our report on the Class of 2024 debuted on Friday.

I profiled Azra Kanji, a 20-year veteran of Abry Partners who founded Astira Capital Partners last year and quickly raised an inaugural fund.  I’ll share an excerpt from my story on Kanji, below.

But first, let’s look at some PE dealmaking news on a busy Monday, with Platinum Equity announcing a big exit this morning.

Deal of the day

Platinum Equity has agreed to sell Yak, a Hattiesburg, Mississippi-based provider of ground protection and temporary roadway solutions, to United Rentals for about $1.1 billion, Iris Dorbian reports. The deal is expected to close later this quarter.

Subscribers to the premium version of the Wire can learn all about the deal – and discover more about the past relationship between Plantium and United Rentals.

There have been a lot of deal announcements this morning. Upgrade your subscription to read PE Hub’s News Briefs page for ongoing coverage.

Starting from scratch

The opportunity “to start from scratch with a blank piece of paper and build a new culture” motivated Azra Kanji to leave Abry Partners after 20 years and launch Astira Capital Partners in May of 2023.

Read all about Kanji and the culture she’s building at Astira on the premium version of the Wire.

See you at NEXUS!

We’ve got an unprecedented lineup of thought leaders speaking at NEXUS later this week, including Carlyle’s David Rubenstein, KKR’s Scott Nuttall and Oaktree’s Howard Marks.

On Thursday, I’ll be conducting a Fireside Chat with Thoma Bravo’s Orlando Bravo. We’ll discuss the current climate for tech deals and the role private equity plays in building tech companies, or “turning great innovators into great businesses,” as he puts it.

I’m also chairing the Dealmaking Track, featuring Pam Hendrickson, vice chairman and COO of the Riverside Company and chairman of the board of the American Investment Council; Suzanne Yoon, founder and CEO of Kinzie Capital Partners; Andi Klein, managing partner, head of Triton Smaller Mid-Cap; and Kate Faust, partner, Rockwood Equity Partners.

I can’t wait to see you there!

And in the meantime, PE Hub Europe editor Craig McGlashan will be back with you tomorrow. 

Happy dealmaking,

MK

Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

General Atlantic wants to grow outsourced investment office Partners Capital Investment Group through technology implementation and management evolution, amid a growing market for outsourced providers, managing director Caroline Woodworth told PE Hub Europe.

Domain Timber Advisors chief executive Joe Sanderson says a "quiet period" has provided an opportunity for managers to strategize how they will meet LPs’ evolving forestry demands. (Agri Investor)

Esther Peiner, the newly minted head of infra at Partners Group, takes Infrastructure Investor through the Swiss firm’s approach to portfolio construction, diversity and why infra is not just about the numbers.

A new paper from KBRA Research argues that the much-discussed "maturity wall" is a myth. Other analysts, including from investment and advisory firm StepStone, defend its reality. (Private Debt Investor)

Investors are prioritizing real estate investments in the West in the near term as the US and Europe offer more attractive returns than Asia because of more significant pricing correction in those two regions, members heard at the PERE Network Asia Summit at the Shangri-La Singapore last week.

Fathom Fund has raised $108 million towards a target of $150 million for its debut fund. The firm plans to invest in the seed to Series B rounds of deep tech companies operating across the climate, energy transition, aerospace and defense, semiconductors, AI and manufacturing industries. (Venture Capital Journal)

Starwood Property Trust is making a push into the mid-market lending sector, hiring Pawan Melgiri from Stellar Management as a managing director to head the initiative. (Private Debt Investor)

Investec has added three secondaries professionals to its GP advisory team, including Oliver Altendorf from Asante Capital Group, Christoph Schwarz from HarbourVest Partners and Emilia Korobowicz from Credit Suisse, according to a statement shared with Secondaries Investor.

They said it

“People are very quick to answer every question regardless of how good the answer is. They’re scared to say, ‘I don’t know.’ But often, that’s the most helpful thing to say. It means that’s something we need to figure out together. And it helps us figure out where we spend our time and attention. We might not do the deal, or if we do the deal, we go in with our eyes wide open.”

— Azra Kanji, founder, Astira Capital Partners, on founding a new firm