Rod James

Market players say they expect more secondary buyers to see eye-to-eye with sellers on asset values, unclogging deal flow this year.

The rare financial derivative backed by some Thrivent private-equity holdings gives the insurer access to cash

Global secondary deals reached roughly $112 billion in 2023, up 4% from $108 billion recorded in 2022, yet still short of a record $132 billion achieved in 2021, according to newly released data from Jefferies one of the largest brokers of such deals. Jefferies’ estimate is in line with that of Evercore, another large broker, which put annual volume at around $114 billion. The modest overall annual improvement belies a noticeable acceleration of activity in the second half of 2023, Jefferies said.

Paul Singer’s Elliott Investment is plowing money into a $1.6 billion continuation fund that lets Quantum Capital retain HG Energy as an investment.

Private equity is going all out to win over guides who work with individual investors, but not all are on board.

Insight Partners-owned Veeam Software, whose products are used to protect corporate data systems from cyber threats, has taken on additional investors through a $2 billion share sale that generated cash for existing backers. This represents a threefold increase in value from when Insight first acquired the company in 2020 at a valuation of about $5 billion. “It helps to have top-tier, blue-chip investors in the event you want to do something major,” said Veeam Chief Executive Anand Eswaran, including options such as a public listing or acquisitions.

Valuations of independent wealth managers—Constellation’s preferred targets—have ballooned as technology helps them compete with giant incumbents.

The $1 billion private investment firm counts Carlyle Group as a partner.

A private real-estate manager with more than $1 billion in assets under management has agreed to settle a whistleblower action for allegedly abusing a federal pandemic loans program meant for small businesses. Lafayette RE Management and its founder will together pay $680,000 after a former Lafayette partner, Jesus Nunez-Unda, accused the firm of obtaining a paycheck protection program loan under false pretenses, according to documents unsealed this week in San Antonio federal court. Nunez-Unda alleged that Lafayette failed to meet the qualifications for a PPP loan, which were meant to keep small businesses afloat, and that Thibault Louis Philippe Adrien, Lafayette’s founder and majority owner, used the PPP money to expand his business while maintaining a “lavish lifestyle” without risk.

The move is part of a shift to less risky assets by the state pension investor, which oversees $205bn