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Take-privates like Sycamore’s move for Walgreens appeal to PE; food-service deals pick up

Happy hump day, Hubsters! Rafael Canton back for a second time this week with the US edition of the Wire from the New York newsroom.

First, we’ll start with a view on take-private deals in private equity this year with insights from Michael Blankenship, co-chair of Winston & Strawn’s capital markets practice and Houston managing partner.

Next, we’ll cover the subsector of food-service and a trend of recent PE deals from firms such as One Equity Partners and Nexa Equity, and look at why it’s attractive to PE firms.

Then, we have a deal from late yesterday. Bain Capital has agreed to acquire HealthEdge, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based healthcare tech company, from Blackstone.

Take-private optimism

As PE Hub has noted throughout 2025 so far, private equity dealmaking has been slow. That’s affected the steady trend of take-private deals.

Michael Blankenship, co-chair of Winston & Strawn’s capital markets practice and Houston managing partner, told PE Hub thatwhile there haven't been a lot of take-private deals, there is some optimism for the rest of 2025.

Subscribe to the premium version of the Wire to get Blankenship’s thoughts and the recent take-private deals that have happened in consumer and retail.

Prepared for dealmaking

Continuing the consumer conversation, let’s move over to the food-service subsector, where PE Hub has spotted several recent deals over the past few months. Food-service involves an individual, group or business preparing food to be served to others.

Last year, I covered seven food-service PE deals that occurred within a month’s timeframe.

Premium subscribers of the Wire can learn why food-service deals are attractive to PE firms and what recent deals PE Hub has seen in the subsector.

Connected health plans

We also have a healthcare tech deal from late yesterday. Bain Capital has agreed to acquire HealthEdge, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based healthcare tech company, from Blackstone.

Subscribe to the premium version of the Wire to gather more insights on the deal.

That’s it for me. If you have any questions, thoughts, or want to chat about deals in the tech, consumer or sports sectors, please email me at [email protected].

Tomorrow, Nina Lindholm will be with you for the Europe edition of the Wire and Michael Schoeck will bring you the US edition.

Cheers,

Rafael

Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...

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Deals

They said it

“I think as private equity looks for deals with a lot of the dry powder out there, ones that know the public markets and know how to take some of these [companies] private, that's where you're going to see a lot more in the take-private arena.”

— Michael Blankenship, co-chair of Winston & Strawn’s capital markets practice and Houston managing partner on the potential for more take-private deals in 2025

Today's letter was prepared by Rafael Canton

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