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BV Investment moves to second round of Becklar sale; KKR and CPP orchestrate Axel Springer break-up; Align makes three add-ons for Counsel Press

Good morning, Hubsters. Senior reporter Michael Schoeck here with the US edition of the Wire from the New York newsroom.

This morning on the Hub, we have an original story by yours truly on an emergency response equipment and software company on the market. BV Investment Partners-backed Becklar is currently in the second round of a sale process undertaken over the summer.

We also have two topical deals to highlight. In the first, publishing house Axel Springer, KKR and co-investor CPP Investments announced a €13.5bn ($15 billion) agreement to break up the publisher of Business Insider, Politico and German news publications Bild and Welt into two groups. In the second, Align Capital Partners announced its latest acquisition, of three legal technology targets for portfolio company Counsel Press.

And wrapping up today we’ll share highlights from KPMG’s Q2 24 M&A report on the energy, natural resources and chemicals markets.

But first let’s look at a scoop involving a personal emergency response systems company.

Emergency monitoring mojo

BV Investment Partners has advanced bidders in a sale process for Becklar, a provider of mobile personal emergency response systems (PERS), sources familiar with the matter told me.

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For sale

Since the beginning of the year I’ve been tracking 175 companies or corporate assets that sources have told me are on the market, or coming to the market in a matter of months, potentially attracting PE buyers.

Here’s to seeing more deal announcements involving companies for sale this year. If you’ve got any tips on companies for sale, shoot me a note at Michael.S@pei.group.

Breaking up
KKR and global news publisher Axel Springer today announced a deal to break up the publishing house, splitting apart its classified advertising business from its media division.

Subscribe to the premium version of the Wire for more details on the deal.

Legaltech Trifecta

Legal technology is a services sub-sector that PE Hub has covered regularly.

This morning Counsel Press, a legal services portfolio company of Align Capital Partners, announced the acquisition of three providers of appellate services.

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

Renewables boost quarterly dealflow

Energy dealmaking in Q2 2024 was noticeably lower, according to global business consulting firm KPMG.

Subscribe to the premium version of the Wire for more highlights from KPMG.

And lastly ...

Now that the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates for the first time in four years, we’d love to hear how you think this will impact dealmaking. Email me your thoughts at Michael.S@pei.group

Stay tuned for the Friday Wires, with Irien Joseph delivering the Europe edition and Obey Martin Manayiti serving up the US edition.

Cheers,

Michael

Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

Ohio Public Employees Retirement System’s board could vote against increasing its private equity allocation in favor of greater liquidity and smaller investment fees, as the system weighs a new asset allocation plan. (Buyouts)

TowerBrook Capital Partners founder Ramez Sousou retired as of this summer, part of a succession plan that has been in the works for several years, sources told Buyouts. Sousou’s retirement comes as TowerBrook, formed in 2005, raises its sixth fund, targeting $4 billion. (Buyouts)

Sullivan Street Partners believes it can improve professionalism within the “untapped” addiction treatment segment of healthcare and grow the facilities of UK Addiction Treatment Group, managing partner Layton Tamberlin told PE Hub.

Carlyle’s AlpInvest Partners has emerged as the lead buyer on a multi-asset continuation fund process run by TJC, formerly known as the Jordan Company, Secondaries Investor has learned. The vehicle is expected to be over $2 billion in size, according to a source familiar with the matter.

For Steven Meier, chief investment officer of the New York City public pension funds, finding alignment – particularly regarding ESG – among the trustees of the five pension plans he manages is one of the key challenges he faces. (New Private Markets)

Alternative asset manager Intermediate Capital Group has completed fundraising for its third North American credit fund, North American Credit Partners III, securing $1.9 billion. (Private Debt Investor)

Patron Capital has teamed up with San Francisco-based Sixth Street to buy Cala Group from Legal & General Investment Management, the investment management business of UK insurer L&G, in a deal valued at £1.35 billion ($1.78 billion; €1.60 billion). (Private Equity Real Estate)

Partners Group has emerged as the lead buyer in a Spanish private equity firm’s GP-led process to move a hotel chain into a separate vehicle, Secondaries Investor has learned.

Coller Capital is opening an office in Canada as it looks to expand its private wealth secondaries business. The Montreal office will be led by Daniel Cohen as head of Canada private wealth, the firm said. (Secondaries Investor)

Viola Credit and Cadma Capital Partners announced that they have formed a $500 million asset-backed finance joint venture, with the hopes of lending to sponsor-backed tech companies that have lending capabilities. (Private Debt Investor)

BTG Pactual‘s Timberland Investment Group has sold 1.3 million carbon removal credits to be derived from its Latin American reforestation and restoration strategy to NASDAQ-listed technology conglomerate Meta. (Agri Investor)

They said it

“We have jointly reached this goal by acquiring industry leaders such as Politico to expand across geographies and segments, transforming the group’s operations, and attracting market leading talent.”

— Philipp Freise, partner and co-head of European private equity, KKR, said of the buyout firm’s splitting up of global media business Axel Springer.