View this email online 

GTCR reveals a big sale; the exit environment is likely to continue improving in 2025; plus what drove accounting deals in 2024

Hello Hubsters. MK Flynn here in New York with the US edition of the Wire.

Big news from GTCR this morning, with the Chicago firm announcing the sale of AssuredPartnersto Arthur J. Gallagher for $13.45 billion. The deal validates the GTCR Leaders Strategy, which PE Hub has written a lot about over the years. More details below.

Also on the topic of exits, on the Hub today, we’re featuring outlooks on 2025 from GPs and LPs, including Blackstone's Martin Brand.

In our ongoing series exploring the factors that drove deals in various sectors through 2024, we’re taking a look at the slew of accounting firms snatched up by PE firms this year.

And, we’ve got updated deal data from the first three quarters of the year.

Deal of the day

GTCR announced earlier this morning that it is selling insurance broker AssuredPartners to Arthur J. Gallagher for $13.45 billion in an all-cash transaction, marking the largest sale of a US insurance broker to a strategic acquiror in the history of the industry. The deal is expected to close in Q1.

Premium subscribers to the Wire may see more about the deal and the GTCR Leaders Strategy.

Looking ahead

Dealmaking should benefit from an improving macro picture and some narrowing of the valuations gap in 2025, writes Buyouts’ Kirk Falconer who recently interviewed three GPs and two LPs to garner their outlooks for the new year.

Upgrade to the premium version of the Wire for outlooks from TPG’s Nehal Raj, BCI’s Jim Pittman and Blackstone’s Martin Brand.

Looking back

Throughout December, PE Hub’s reporters are reviewing the year and exploring the factors fueling deal activity in various sectors throughout 2024.

Accounting firms have been attracting PE investments all year. In February, PE Hub rounded up five PE-backed CPA deals, and in October, we rounded up another six.

Going up

If it feels like the deal environment is gaining some momentum, it's not your imagination. Check out our newly updated quarterly deal data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

And speaking of data, we’re looking forward to bringing you more in the new year, thanks to a growing team of data journalists at PEI Group, led by Rashida Kamal, who joined us earlier in December.

That’s all for now. As always, I’d love to hear from you at mk.flynn@pei.group.

Coming up…. Craig McGlashan’s on vacation this week, so Irien Joseph will bring you the Europe edition of the Wire tomorrow, and Obey Martin Manayiti will deliver the US edition.

Happy dealmaking,

MK

•  
• Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...
•  

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

Closing bid/ask spreads, lower interest rates and private equity firms looking to shift large portfolio companies are creating a “good dynamic” for LBO deal activity in Europe – despite anemic economic growth, Ivano Sessa, partner at Bain Capital, told PE Hub in the latest of its 2025 Outlook pieces.

Performance is proving the critical factor in whether an LP re-ups with a private equity manager. About 79 percent of LPs have declined to re-invest with a GP in the past 12 months, according to the latest Global Private Capital Barometer report by Coller Capital. Nearly 90 percent expect to refuse a re-up with at least a small number of their existing managers in the next 12 months. (Private Equity International)

Despite an ongoing distribution drought and poor performance, venture capital funds are still very much of interest to institutional investors, according to an exclusive survey of LPs by Venture Capital Journal.

HSBC Asset Management has launched a secondaries and co-investment program for family offices. The bespoke program enables “a selected group of family office clients” to participate in GP-led and LP-led secondaries, as well as private markets co-investments, Mathieu Forcioli, global and Asia-Pacific head of alternatives for HSBC Global Private Banking, told Secondaries Investor.

New Mexico State Investment Council has voted to alter its private equity policy to increase its exposure to private equity strategies, as part of a larger strategy shift that also includes a pacing adjustment for the asset class. (Buyouts)

International Woodland Company chief commercial officer Céline Claudon said she hopes LPs will have dedicated natural capital buckets within five years. “The hope and expectation is that in five years from now, they do have a natural capital allocation instead of trying to fit timberland, agriculture or ecosystem restoration into something else that they already know of. It is still a work in in progress.” (Agri Investor)

Private Equity International kicked off its 'Story of the Year' series recounting the muted year for fundraising.

They said it

“We believe growth trends in the CPA space are compelling. We are living in a world with growing regulatory complexity and the need for best-in-class advice is more pronounced than it has ever been.”

— Jason Barg, partner, Lovell Minnick Partners, on private equity interest in CPA firms