Happy Wednesday. Here’s what we’ve got today…

• A look at take-private deal terms

• Plus, Silver Lake eyes possible Intel carve-out

Bigger deals:

Weil released its annual review of sponsor-led take-privates earlier this month. The headline takeaway: willing sellers and favorable valuations (particularly in technology and healthcare) helped power a busy year for public-to-private deals in 2024.

Sponsors announced or completed 35 take-privates greater than $100 million last year, up slightly from 31 in 2023. Aggregate deal value, however, rose more than 25 percent with a higher concentration of deals above $1 billion.

One driver is the continued lack of acquisitive interest from strategics — Ernst & Young data show a 17-percent drop in sales to corporate buyers last year.

As strategics sit on the sidelines, financial buyers have taken advantage of less-competitive processes to get more deals over the line.

Another tailwind has been the robust debt financing environment. Syndicated, high yield, and private credit financing options all offered more favorable terms last year. By the end of September, syndicated leveraged loan volume of more than $1.045 trillion was 93 percent higher than the same period in 2023.

Increased lender competition and early rate cuts have helped lower the cost of borrowing.

"At the beginning of 2024, Term SOFR for 1 month and 3 months was 5.35 percent and 5.36 percent per annum,” notes Weil. “By December 2, 2024, the same benchmarks had fallen to 4.64 percent and 4.89 percent per annum, respectively."

Looking at deal terms, Weil calls out a jump in usage of reverse termination fees—83 percent of surveyed transactions included one, reversing a recent downward trend. Despite some variation in fee levels, mid-single-digit percentages of equity value remain most common.

One-step mergers are still the norm, yet a handful of sponsors opted for two-step tender offers as a quicker route to closing (or to reprice a transaction). Weil notes that tender offers could become an attractive option if the market becomes more competitive, but for now, most sponsors prefer the longer runway of a single-step merger to manage debt financing processes.

Use of go-shop provisions remained at the lower end of the historical range—just 20 percent of deals, down from 29 percent in 2023. As market checks make post-signing bid solicitation less important, targets see less need to negotiate on the point. Weil also said it was unable to find any links between go-shops and final deal price, implying that the decision tends to be highly situation-specific.

• Sycamore Partners remains in talks to acquire Walgreens (NYSE: WBA) at a possible valuation of up to $10 billion.

• Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is exploring the sale of a 25-30 percent stake in Motor Fuel Group, a UK-based fuel retail network operator, at a potential £7 billion valuation.

• Lonza Group (SWX: LONN) is exploring the sale of its Capsules and Health Ingredients business, which could be worth around €2.5 billion, per Bloomberg.

• BP (NYSE: BP) is exploring the sale of its Castrol lubricants business, which could fetch up to $10 billion.

• TSMC, Broadcom, and Silver Lake are separately evaluating potential deals for different parts of Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), with TSMC eyeing semiconductor fabrication plants, Broadcom interested in the chip design business, and Silver Lake considering a stake in Altera.

• OpenAI's board rejected a $97.4 billion takeover bid from Elon Musk and xAI.

• Align Capital Partners recapitalized AKS Engineering, a Tualatin, Oregon-based consulting firm providing civil engineering, surveying, and environmental services.

• SURJ Sports Investment, an arm of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, is acquiring a minority stake in DAZN, a European sports streaming platform, for $1 billion.

• Bain Capital withdrew its $4 billion takeover bid for Fuji Soft, ceding to KKR's higher $4.3 billion offer.

• Flourish Research, a Genstar Capital portfolio company, acquired Diablo Clinical Research, a multi-therapeutic clinical research facility.

• Deepwatch, backed by Vista Equity Partners and Goldman Sachs Growth, acquired Dassana, a San Mateo-based security intelligence platform.

• KKR submitted a revised takeover proposal for Perpetual (ASX: PPT)'s Wealth Management and Corporate Trust businesses, valuing the units above A$8 per share.

• Amphenol (NYSE: APH) acquired LifeSync, a developer of disposable patient monitoring devices, from HealthEdge Investment Partners.

• Sandbrook Capital agreed to acquire intellirent, a Texas-based electrical test equipment rental provider, from Platinum Equity-backed Electro Rent.

• One Equity Partners agreed to acquire Wheeler Fleet Solutions, a Pennsylvania-based vehicle parts and services provider, from VSE Corporation (Nasdaq: VSEC) for $230 million.

• BC Partners is exploring the sale of Keesing Media Group, a Dutch puzzle publisher, in a deal that could fetch around €550 million, per the Financial Times.

• LesserEvil, a snack manufacturer backed by Aria Growth Partners, Valor Equity, and Invest Eco, is exploring a potential sale that could value the company at $1 billion, per Bloomberg.

• Scopely, backed by Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group, is in talks to acquire Niantic's games unit, including Pokémon Go, for $3.5 billion, with Niantic backed by Coatue, Spark Capital, and IVP.

• Hexaware Technologies, a Carlyle-backed Indian IT services provider, raised $1 billion in its IPO.

• AE Industrial Partners invested in United Building Solutions, a New Jersey-based HVAC services provider, which subsequently acquired Total Comfort Solutions, expanding its footprint into Florida and Georgia.

• Company Ventures launched Terrarium, a healthcare technology venture studio with $130 million in assets under management, in partnership with Cactus and Wellstar Health System.

• Herc Rentals (NYSE: HRI) won a bidding war for H&E Equipment Services (Nasdaq: HEES) with a $5.3 billion cash and stock offer, prompting H&E to terminate its previous merger agreement with United Rentals (NYSE: URI).

• Waste Eliminator, a portfolio company of Allied Industrial Partners, acquired Oconee Resources, a South Carolina-based municipal waste transfer station operator.

• Menlo Security, a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company, acquired Votiro, a data and file security platform, from Harvest Lane Asset Management.

• Grovecourt Capital Partners acquired IMRIS, a Minnesota-based provider of movable MRI systems for operating rooms.

• KKR (NYSE: KKR) acquired an A$95 million stake in Sydney-based Employment Hero, an HR software platform, from SEEK Investments, which remains an investor.

• PSG invested $150 million in Unscreen, an Austrian video monetization platform.

• General Atlantic acquired a 57 percent stake in Dubai-based KAYALI from Huda Beauty, with founder Mona Kattan retaining the remaining stake.

• HP (NYSE: HPQ) acquired Humane, a San Francisco-based AI wearable technology company, and its portfolio of AI technology assets for $116 million.

• Tether acquired a minority stake in Juventus Football Club (MI: JUVE), the Exor-backed Italian sports franchise.

Tech, Vertical SaaS, & Misc. Enterprise

• Thinking Machines Lab, a new AI startup launched by ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Muratin, raised $1 billion in Series A funding.

• xAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup, is hoping to raise 10 billion dollars in new funding at a 75 billion dollar valuation from Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Valor Equity Partners.

• Verkada, a cloud-based physical security technology provider, raised $200 million in Series E funding led by General Catalyst, with participation from Eclipse Ventures, Sequoia, Meritech, First Round Capital, and Felicis.

• Dream, an AI infrastructure cybersecurity startup, raised $100 million in Series B funding led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from Group 11, Tru Arrow, Tau Capital, and Aleph.

• Hightouch, a marketing personalization platform, raised $80 million in Series C funding led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from NVC, ICONIQ Growth, Amplify Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, and Y Combinator.

• Luminance, a legal AI platform for contract management, raised $75 million in Series C funding led by Point72 Private Investments, with participation from Forestay Capital, RPS Ventures, Schroders Capital, March Capital, National Grid Partners, and Slaughter and May.

• Udaan, a B2B e-commerce marketplace connecting retailers with wholesalers, raised $75 million in Series G funding led by M&G Prudential, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners.

• ClustroAI, an edge AI startup enabling local device AI processing, raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Forum Ventures, with participation from MetaBlast, Metaverse Group, and NVIDIA.

• Nodes & Links, an AI-powered construction project management platform, raised $12 million in Series B funding led by ETF Partners, with participation from SFC and Uncorrelated.

• Stacks, an Amsterdam-based AI-powered accounting automation platform, raised $10 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst, with participation from EQT Ventures and s16vc.

• Singulr AI, an enterprise AI governance and security platform, raised $10 million in seed funding co-led by Nexus Venture Partners and Dell Technologies Capital.

• Imperia, a supply chain management SaaS platform, raised €10 million in Series A funding co-led by Burda Principal Investments and Samaipata, with participation from Acurio Ventures and Draper B1.

• Integrail, a San Francisco-based agentic AI no-code startup, raised $10 million in seed funding from Ratmir Timashev.

• Lingo.dev, an AI-powered localization engine for software developers, raised $4.2 million in seed funding led by Initialized Capital, with participation from Y Combinator.

Fintech

• Blockaid, a blockchain security platform, raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from GV, Variant, and Cyberstarts.

• Capi Money, a London-based international payments platform, raised €17.2 million in Series A funding led by Creandum, with participation from Janngo.africa, Y Combinator, Firstminute Capital, 4Cities, The Raba Partnership, Algorithmic Strategies, Rebel Fund, Maiora, and Pioneer Fund.

Consumer & Media

• Snuggs, a Berlin-based period underwear brand, raised €5 million in new funding led by TripleB.

Healthcare

• Abridge, an AI platform for clinical documentation, raised $250 million in Series D funding co-led by Elad Gil and IVP, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, California Health Care Foundation, CapitalG, CVS Health Ventures, K. Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, NVentures, Redpoint Ventures, Spark Capital, and SV Angel.

• Bambusa Therapeutics, a Boston-based developer of bispecific antibodies for immunological and inflammatory disorders, raised $90 million in Series A funding led by RA Capital Management, with participation from Janus Henderson Investors, Redmile Group, Invus, ADAR1 Capital Management, BVF Partners, KKR, Salvia GmbH, and INCE Capital.

• Endovascular Engineering, a developer of clot removal technology for venous thromboembolism, raised $42 million in Series B funding co-led by 415 Capital and S3 Ventures, with participation from Panakès Partners, M&L Healthcare, Santé Ventures, and Cordis.

• Frontera Health, a Denver-based developer of AI-powered autism care diagnostic and treatment tools, raised $32 million in seed funding co-led by Lux Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Bison Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and Inspired Capital.

• Atrandi Biosciences, a Lithuanian biotech developing single-cell analysis technology, raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Lux Capital, with participation from Vsquared Ventures, Practica Capital, Metaplanet, and GRIDS Capital.

• Avandra, a medical imaging data network platform, raised $17.75 million in new funding co-led by Aegis Ventures and SpringRock Ventures, with participation from Memorial Hermann Health System, Northwell Health, Kompass Ventures, and Greater Ventures.

• Subsense, a developer of non-surgical nanoparticle-based brain-computer interfaces, raised $17 million in seed funding led by Golden Falcon Capital.

• Perceive Pharma, a developer of small molecule neuroprotective therapeutics for glaucoma and other ophthalmic diseases, raised $15 million in Series A funding from Deerfield Management, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Braidwell LP, GV, Retinal Degeneration Fund, and Catalio Capital Management.

• Level Zero Health, a developer of continuous hormone monitoring wearables using DNA-based sensors, raised $6.9 million in pre-seed funding led by Redalpine, with participation from HAX, Entrepreneur First, Unruly Capital, Exceptional Ventures, Samos, Anorak, Springbank Collective, DTX, Black Jays, and Transpose Platform.

Industrials, Greentech, & Other

• Figure AI, a humanoid robotics startup, raised $1.5 billion in Series C funding co-led by Align Ventures and Parkway Venture Capital at a $39.5 billion valuation.

• Saronic Technologies, an autonomous naval vessel manufacturer, raised $600 million in Series C funding led by Elad Gil at a $4 billion valuation, with participation from General Catalyst, a16z, Caffeinated Capital, and 8VC.

• Terra CO2, a low-carbon building materials company developing sustainable cement technology, raised $82 million in Series B funding co-led by Just Climate, Eagle Materials, and GenZero, with participation from Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

• Augury, an industrial AI company developing machine health monitoring solutions, raised $75 million in Series F funding led by Lightrock, with participation from Insight Partners, Eclipse, Qumra Capital, Schneider Electric Ventures, and Qualcomm Ventures.

• Cambridge GaN Devices, a developer of energy-efficient gallium nitride power devices, raised $32 million in Series C funding led by an undisclosed strategic investor, with participation from British Patient Capital, Parkwalk, BGF, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Foresight Group, and IQ Capital.

• Wooptix, a Spanish semiconductor metrology company using wavefront phase imaging technology, raised €10 million in Series C funding led by Samsung Venture Investment Corporation and Spanish Society for Technological Transformation, with participation from European Innovation Council Fund, Intel Capital, Mondragón Corporation, and TEL Venture Capital.

• Neuberger Berman raised $1.6 billion for its third specialty finance fund and related asset-backed financing vehicles, exceeding its $1 billion target.

• KKR raised $850 million for its second opportunistic real estate credit fund focused on senior loans and securities across the US and Western Europe.

• Tikehau Capital raised €1.2 billion for its third special opportunities fund, exceeding its €1 billion target.

• Madison River Capital, a Tony James family office spinout, raised $370 million for its debut institutional fund focused on U.S. middle market buyouts.

• Greenfield Partners raised $400 million for its third enterprise technology fund.

• INVL Private Equity raised €305 million for its second fund focused on growth and buyout investments across the Baltics and Central Europe.

• Correction: o15 Capital Partners raised $370 million for its inaugural Emerging America Credit Opportunities Fund, with related co-investment vehicles bringing total capital raised to nearly $400 million (not $770 million as previously reported).

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