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Blackstone, Vista to take Smartsheet private for $8.4bn; Vantage Point vets PE investors

Good morning, Hubsters. Senior reporter Michael Schoeck here with the US edition of the Wire from the New York newsroom, filling in for Craig McGlashan who’s on leave for a few days.

As regular readers know, since the beginning of the year, I’ve been talking with confidential sources about companies coming to the market. The list of companies I’ve been tracking has now grown to about 175, though sources have pointed to a potential slowdown again before year end. As I confirm sale process plans with multiple sources, I share the news with you.

Today, I’m sharing a scoop about a private equity investment opportunity in an employee-owned broadband and power transmission engineering services provider, Vantage Point Solutions.

And we’ve got another original report today from Rafael Canton, who interviewed Hg director Alexander Johnson about the private equity firm’s dealmaking strategy within governance, risk and compliance software companies that serve community banks.

In deal news, earlier this morning, Blackstone and Vista said they are buying enterprise software developer Smartsheet for $8.4 billion in a take-private deal.

And  Sixth Street Partners and EQT Infrastructure funds announced an agreement in which EQT will sell a minority stake in data center company EdgeConneX to Sixth Street.

Let’s start off with a scoop.

Utility linemen

Vantage Point Solutions, an employee-owned power transmission and broadband telecom engineering firm, is actively vetting new sources of capital investors via private equity firms, sources briefed on the matter told PE Hub.

Upgrade to the premium version of the Wire for more details.

Safeguarding banks

London-based Hg first identified US community banks and small financial services providers as a potential investment area about five years ago. 

“It’s an area where we would like to make investments because it’s such a critical part of the US financial infrastructure,” director Alexander Johnson told PE Hub.’s Rafael Canton.

Upgrade to the premium version of the Wire to read the full interview.

Take private

Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners have agreed to buy Smartsheet, a developer of work management enterprise software, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $8.4 billion.

For more on the deal, upgrade to the premium version of the Wire.

Data center renaissance

Earlier this morning EQT Infrastructure funds and Sixth Street Partners announced an agreement in which EQT Infrastructure IV and EQT Infrastructure V will sell a minority stake in data center provider EdgeConneX to funds managed by Sixth Street.

Upgrade to the premium version of the Wire for more details and a listicle involving other data center deals.

That’s a wrap for me today. Stay tuned for Craig McGlashan bringing you the European Wire edition tomorrow and Rafael Canton delivering the US edition.

Cheers,

Michael

Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...

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They said it

“Community banking ... is an area where we would like to make investments because it’s such a critical part of the US financial infrastructure. It’s largely serving the people who don’t live in central metropolitan areas, and that’s a large percentage of the population. It’s completely critical to their daily lives.”

— Alexander Johnson, director at Hg, said about the private equity firm’s interest in community banking and compliance software providers.