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Blackstone’s PE strategy up 2.8% in Q1 earnings; Harris Williams and Sixpoint join forces

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

Today marks the second day of PEI Group’sInvestor Relations, Marketing & Communications Forum.

(Reminder: PEI is the owner of PE Hub.)

It was great to see many of you there yesterday!

I enjoyed conducting the keynote Fireside Chat with Arielle Gross Samuels, managing director, global head of marketing for Blackstone, and learning more about the “Build with Blackstone” marketing campaign.

Speaking of Blackstone … the firm released its Q1 earnings this morning, kicking off earnings season for PE firms.

We’ve got reporters listening in on the earnings call as I write this.

At PE Hub, we’re especially interested to hear any updates involving Blackstone’s $4.6 billion acquisition of events technology provider Cvent from Vista Equity Partners.

The deal was announced in March but hasn’t closed yet.

Go-to-market models

Blackstone’s Cvent deal was one of several big software deals that dominated deal activity in Q1.

Earlier this week, PE Hub published Obey Martin Manayiti’s deep dive on what’s driving enterprise software deals.

There’s been a lot of buzz about the story at the IR conference and on LinkedIn this week!

You won’t want to miss this one. Read the story here. (Subscription required.)

Collective expertise

In other news…

Earlier this morning, two boutique investment banks that do a lot of business in PE-backed middle-market deals announced they’re teaming up.

Harris Williams, a Richmond, Virginia-based investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, is merging with Sixpoint Partners, a New York-based investment bank focused on private capital advisory. 

Read more about the deal on PE Hub. (Subscription required.)

Listen up

Before I sign off, I want to mention a highlight from the IR conference yesterday: the afternoon keynote by Meagan Loyst, founder & CEO of Gen Z VCs.

Loyst spoke about the increasing role Gen Z is playing in venture capital and private equity, and she urged the audience to pay attention.

I’m with her. I love this generation and spend a lot of time with them – my daughter Samantha is 20.

Gen Z is the generation after millennials – it starts with people born in 1997 – so they’re in their 20s now. They grew up with iPhones and social media, they’re entrepreneurial, they care about making a difference, and they see VC and PE as powerful ways to make an impact on the world.

If you haven’t already read Venture Capital Journal’s profile of Loyst, I encourage you to do so now.

Here’s to the next generation!

Obey will be back with tomorrow’s Wire, and I’ll see you on Monday.

Cheers,

MK

Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ...

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