Good morning, Hubsters. MK Flynn here with the Wire on a busy Thursday morning. Let’s get right to it. Trends to watch. RSM reached out to me yesterday with the firm’s perspective on current dealmaking, and I found the analysis useful. The top three mid-market deal trends to watch out for this year, according to RSM are: “Entrepreneurs and founders are taking advantage of a market high to exit; the impact of the war in Ukraine could soon start to be felt on deal activity; the TMT sector – particularly B2B software – will continue to see intense dealmaking.” The audit, tax and consulting firm, offered insights on global mid-market M&A activity. “Transitioning from 2021 into Q1 2022, we saw deal volumes continuing to remain buoyant with high levels of capital available,” said Lee Castledine, a partner at RSM UK and a member of RSM's global financial due diligence leadership team. “The appetite from both private equity investors and corporates also remains strong, and currently the data shows no sign of this slowing down. At present this dynamic is more than offsetting geopolitical and economic factors that might serve to undermine confidence and dampen deal activity as we progress into 2022. The appalling humanitarian crisis in Ukraine continues to escalate, and while the full scale of its impact is unpredictable, it looms large as a potential drag on the broader economic outlook and on deal activity generally.” Packaging deals heat up. Clearlake Capital’s $2.6 billion take-private deal for Intertape Polymer Group (IPG), announced earlier this month, may be the biggest recent PE-led deal in the packaging sector, but it’s far from the only one. Obey Martin Manayiti, who joined PE Hub as a reporter this month, discovered a slew of smaller deals in the sector. For more on the deals, read Obey’s story. In fundraising news, Knox Lane, the PE firm founded by former TPG Growth partners John Bailey and Shamik Patel, has wrapped up fundraising for an inaugural fund of $610 million, Kirk writes. KLC Fund I closed earlier this month, above an initial target of $500 million and a hard-cap of $600 million, Bailey and Patel told Buyouts. The firm is one of 12 emerging managers Buyouts had previously identified as ones to watch. Also on the fundraising front, FTV Capital announced the close of FTV VII, its seventh and largest fund, oversubscribed at its hard cap of $2.3 billion in capital commitments. FTV’s recent investments include Luma Health, a provider of patient engagement systems; Plate IQ, a provider of accounts payable and payment systems for restaurants; and Vagaro, developer of cloud-based business management systems for beauty, fitness and wellness businesses. I interviewed managing partner Brad Bernstein earlier this year for my series of Q&As with high-profile private equity pros. Check out my interview here. That’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow morning with more. All the best, MK Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ... | 