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KKR’s Pete Stavros, TPG’s Jon Winkelreid to speak at NEXUS 2025; Investcorp, PSP back PKF O'Connor Davies

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

Accounting firms have seen a lot of private equity action lately. The PE interest stems from increased regulation and also the need for technological upgrades of old systems.

This morning’s announcement that Investcorp and PSP Investments are investing in PKF O’Connor Davies continues the trend PE Hub has reported on a lot this year. Scroll down for details on the new deal, our coverage of recent transactions and our reporting on a firm that’s said to be coming to market soon.

Also today, at PEI Group (the publisher of PE Hub), we’ve released the preliminary agenda for our NEXUS 2025 summit. KKR’s Pete Stavros is among the thought leaders scheduled to speak. I’ll share more details on speakers below. The 2024 event drew 500+ attendees, including many LPs.

Deal of the day

Investcorp and Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board have teamed up to make a strategic growth investment in PKF O'Connor Davies, a New York-based provider of accounting, tax and advisory practices.

Accounting firms are in demand, a phenomenon PE Hub has been following closely this year. We  rounded up half a dozen accounting deals here.

We expect to see a lot more of these deals, including one coming to market soon.

Upgrade to the premium version of the Wire to learn which firm will soon be for sale.

NEXUS 2025 preview

PEI Group has announced the preliminary agenda for NEXUS 2025, featuring a lineup of private equity luminaries as speakers. Among the featured thought leaders scheduled are:

• Orlando Bravo, co-founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo
• Suzanne Donohoe, chief commercial officer of EQT
• Hollie Haynes, founder and managing partner of Luminate Capital Partners
• Chip Kaye, chairman of Warburg Pincus
• Pete Stavros, co-head of global private equity at KKR
• Jon Winkelreid, CEO of TPG

Connecting powerful private equity firm leaders with influential capital allocators, NEXUS 2025 will take place March 10-12 at the Ritz Carlton, Orlando Grande Lakes in Orlando, Florida.

The conference will also feature PEI Group’s reporters and editors from Private Equity International, PE Hub, Buyouts, Private Debt Investor, Venture Capital Journal and more.

I’m looking forward to interviewing Orlando Bravo on stage and also chairing a track focused on dealmaking in sectors, including healthcare and technology.

For a preview of what to expect at NEXUS 2025, check out my recent conversation with Bravo, in which we discussed everything affecting PE tech deals, from falling interest rates to rising cybersecurity threats.

Last year’s NEXUS summit drew more than 500 attendees, many of whom were senior LP decision makers. Highlights from the 2024 event included keynote interviews with Blackstone’s Jonathan Gray and Carlyle’s David Rubenstein.

Call for nominations

Before I sign off, I want to share a brief reminder about our Deals of the Year awards.

PE Hub is now accepting nominations for the 35th annual Deal of the Year Awards, which honor exceptional buyouts that were fully or mostly realized in 2024.

The deadline for submission is Friday, January 10, 2025. Winners will be selected in six categories, plus an overall winner, and the results will be published on pehub.com in March.

That’s it for today. Nina Lindholm will bring you the Europe edition tomorrow morning, and Obey Martin Manayiti will bring you the US edition.

As always, I’d love to hear from you at mk.flynn@pei.group

Cheers,
MK

Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

Inside Ceres Partners’ 17-year-old open-end farmland fund: In the first installment of Agri Investor's deep dives into buy-and-lease farmland strategies, we take a close look at one of the oldest open-end farmland funds in the market.

BeyondNetZero, General Atlantic‘s climate investing arm, has taken a minority stake in circular economy-focused business Ecore, which turns used tires into rubber surfacing and flooring. (New Private Markets)

Real estate investors and managers that took the stage at the PERE Network America Forum last week outlined optimistic projections for many of the popular growth sectors one might have expected to hear about, including logistics, data centers and student housing. But one less obvious category was frequently cited by top executives as an area of emerging conviction: retail – and not just the grocery-anchored variety. 

Private label grocery brands are gaining traction among US consumers and could see their market share grow from a current 19 percent to 30 percent of grocery sales by 2033, according to a Rabobank report. (Agri Investor)

"Investcorp and Canadian pension fund PSP Investments are buying PKF O’Connor Davies, the 25th largest accountancy firm in the US by revenue, as it increases its investments in professional services groups, according to people familiar with the matter." (Financial Times)

They said it

“The cash that is sitting in private equity will have to be put to work, and time is ticking. And that cash is not there indefinitely. Capital needs to be returned to LPs, and that also needs to move, and needs to happen.”

— Orlando Bravo, the co-founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, in a NEXUS 2025 preview interview