Good morning and welcome again to 2021!

We are in a bit of a rough start to the year with NY reporting its first case of a more contagious virus strain yesterday. Although, we can still feel grateful to have survived a rather challenging year, locked up at home.

This remote environment accelerated digital adoption – a trend Orlando Bravo, Thoma Bravo’s co-founder and managing partner, believes will continue post-pandemic.

In a recent interview, Bravo told PE Hub that 2020 was “absolutely our best year ever.”

For example, in connection with its sale of Ellie Mae to Intercontinental Exchange for $11 billion, Thoma earned a 4.1x gross multiple and 217 percent gross IRR, two people with knowledge of the matter tell PE Hub. It also sold mainframe software-maker Compuware to BMC for $1.5 billion, sources say.

These and other exits made 2020 a record year for liquidity, the sources say, amounting to $12 billion in gross proceeds.

Read the full story on PE Hub.

Future of work: More and more firms are investing behind models that support the remote working lifestyle, which has become the norm. LLR Partners is one of them, striking a growth investment in Dizzion, a Managed Desktop as a Service (DaaS) provider that enables thousands of workers to operate in a secure and compliant work-from-home or remote environments.

Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub.

That's it for today. As always, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] with feedback, tips or comments.

We hope you’re enjoying the new streamlined PE Hub Wire. For a more detailed version, we have launched a new premium version for our paying PE Hub subscribers that is ad-free and includes full editorial commentary and descriptions with each story. For more information about the Wire Premium, reach out to [email protected].

Note to Readers: It's that time of year ... for the 21st time, the editors of PE Hub and Buyouts honor exceptional buyouts with our Deal of the Year Awards.

Winners are chosen in seven categories: Deal of the Year, Large-Market Deal of the Year, Middle-Market Deal of the Year, Small-Market Deal of the Year, Turnaround of the Year, International Deal of the Year, and Secondaries Deal of the Year.

Go here for more information and to read about rules and methodology. Also check out past winners. Last year, New Mountain took the crown with its exit of Equian.

If you have additional questions, email Private Equity Editor Chris Witkowsky at [email protected].

That's it for today. As always, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] with feedback, tips or comments.