Good morning, Hubsters. Michael Schoeck here with you from the New York newsroom with a lot of PE deal-related news today.
Tariffs continue to dominate the headlines this morning. It’s earnings season, and Blackstone announced its quarterly results, indicating that the value of its investments rose across all of the firm’s major strategies but by less than the year before.
Alongside the announcement, Blackstone president Jonathan Gray gave some interviews, saying that current market volatility related to tariffs could hurt private equity's ability to sell off companies and return money to its investors.
PE Hub and our counterparts at Buyouts, Private Equity International and Secondaries Investor have interviewed dozens of PE thought leaders about the impact of tariff turbulence and stock market volatility on their businesses over the last two weeks. On Monday, we published a cross-title special report on PE reaction.
Following up on the report, earlier this morning we published a PEI Group podcast in which editors including PE Hub’s MK Flynn share insights about how PE pros are handling all the ups and downs in tariffs.
Also in PE news today are two large-cap technology deal announcements, one involving a cyber-security and IT software provider, and the other, a financial technology company.
On the Hub, we’re featuring an inside-the-exit article I wrote about Kinderhook Industries’ recent sale of a car accessories maker.
And we’ve got my weekly update on companies for sale, including nuggets on three recent sales I tracked.
Editors’ roundtable
Earlier this morning we published a special episode of PEI’s Spotlight podcast featuring editors from PEI Group titles discussing the private equity industry’s response to the recent tariff turbulence.
The episode features:
- Adam Le, senior editor, EMEA, private equity, PEI
- Mary Kathleen (MK) Flynn, editor-in-chief, PE Hub
- Graham Bippart, senior editor, Buyouts and Private Funds CFO
- Madeleine Farman, editor, Secondaries Investor
Tune in to hear insights gleaned from dozens of interviews with PE thought leaders over the last two weeks. Also read our special report on tariff turmoil, published earlier this week.
Technology exits
In technology news, there were two blockbuster deals involving a take-private of a cyber-security company and a financial payments provider.
In the first, Turn/River Capital announced a $4.4 billion take-private deal for SolarWinds, an observability, cyber-security and IT management software provider that’s been public since 2018.
And in the second deal, GTCR and FIS agreed to sell Worldpay, a payments technology company, to Global Payments in a $24.25 billion transaction.
Sign up for the premium version of the Wire to read more on these plus other technology deals.
Inside the exit
Companies that manufacture in the US stand to gain from increased tariffs on non-US goods. One PE firm focused on domestic US manufacturing is Kinderhook Industries. PE Hub sat down with managing director Tom Tuttle and principal Nate Druckenmiller to discuss the firm’s recent sale of an auto parts maker and the tariff climate.
Upgrade to the premium version of the Wire to access the full story.
Companies for sale
This year I’ve been briefed on more than 70 companies coming to the market by PE firms, founder-owned companies or strategic carveouts.
Readers of the premium version of the Wire can access ongoing companies for sale coverage, including three deals announced this week.
That’s a wrap for me. There’s no Europe edition of the Wire tomorrow due to the UK bank holiday. John R Fischer will bring you the US edition, as usual.
All the best,
Michael
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