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LLCP buys USA Water, Sandbrook backs rPlus, Trinity Hunt looks for tech-enabled buys

Good morning, Hubsters. Michael Schoeck back with you for the Thursday Wire.

With the US infrastructure market seeing a capital renaissance, the top deal stories this morning are focused on water infrastructure and renewable energy.

Middle-market PE firm Levine Leichtman Capital Partners announced the acquisition of USA Water.

And in the energy market, Sandbrook Capital announced a $460 million commitment in rPlus Energies.

On the Hub today we’ve got two fresh technology-focused stories: a story from yours truly about Trinity Hunt’s plans to spend its latest fund,andRafael Canton’s Deep Dive into Falfurrias Capital Partners ’ most-recent acquisition of IT services company, NPI.

Rounding out the Wire today, KKR chief investment officer Henry McVey and managing director Francis Lim have a report out titled, “Thoughts from the road: India.”

First on tap is the water deal.

Keep the water running

The infrastructure market is finally having a renaissance, and the water market is a critical part of the US infrastructure ecosystem. Levine Leichtman Capital Partners has announced the acquisition of USA Water, an operations and maintenance service provide to wastewater and water utility companies, from Warren Equity Partners and in partnership with existing management.

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Utilities going solar

The power grid continues to see new and larger solar projects built in place of coal and conventional power resources.Sandbrook Capital announced a $460 million equity investment in rPlus Energies.

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Moving the IT stack to the cloud

Earlier in February, Trinity Hunt Partners  announced the close of its oversubscribed seventh fund with $700 million in hard cap commitments. This week, I spoke with managing partner Blake Apel about the kinds of deals the middle market fund will invest in.

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IT cost controls

Corporations are seeing an increase in IT-related costs, causing PE firms to pounce on investment opportunities in IT service companies that help customers manage IT expenses. In January, Falfurrias Capital Partners announced the acquisition of NPI, a provider of data-driven IT procurement services.

PE Hub’s Rafael Canton spoke with Amy Brandt, a partner at Falfurrias, about NPI’s use of artificial intelligence, the PE firm’s plans for add-on acquisitions and PE interest in IT services.

Premium subscribers may read all about the plans.

PE opportunities in India

In a report titled, “Thoughts from the road: India,” KKR chief investment officer Henry McVey and managing director Francis Lim shared insights after a recent trek across India.

Premium subscribers may read more.

That’s it for me today. Obey Martin Manayiti will be back tomorrow to wrap up the week with the Friday Wire.

Cheers,

Michael

Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

Carlyle’s Andrew Tan sees ‘endless’ opportunities in video gaming. CVC Capital Partners and Haveli Investments are buying developer Jagex from Carlyle, but the private equity firm will be back in the sector. (PE Hub Europe)

Germany’s pbb provides €68m green loan for ‘Creative’ Paris office: The asset is the redeveloped Le Magnum building which managers Patron Capital and EDR REIM acquired in 2018. (New Private Markets)

Investors’ energy transition strategies take shape: While open to nuance, investors are signalling what they want out of energy transition investing. (Infrastructure Investor)

FinCEN proposal will force private fund managers to beef up AML: The industry has long fought off attempts at this kind of regulation, but many seem to accept it as inevitable, if not necessary. (Private Funds CFO)

Wisconsin pension makes big commitment to Ballast’s debut secondaries fund: Ballast aims to provide tailored liquidity solutions to individuals or institutions holding interests in venture-backed companies or growth equity and venture funds. (Venture Capital Journal)

They said it

“We thought that growth in the IT spend area was not slowing down. If anything, it’s accelerating. The use of benchmarking and other tools to help control that spend on the part of big consumers of those products was going to increase as well. The bottom line is this is an expanding industry.”

— Amy Brandt, a partner at Falfurrias Capital Partners, on investing in IT provider NPI.