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Clearlake Capital Group portfolio company Pretium Packaging filed a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, capping a two-year restructuring effort that featured a liability management attempt and an unusual lender blacklist (which we previously covered here).

The St. Louis-based rigid packaging manufacturer has a restructuring support agreement signed by holders of more than 91 percent of its first-lien tranche A-1 loans and 81 percent of its second-lien debt.

The deal will eliminate around $900 million in obligations from a capital structure that had become unwieldy following major debt-funded add-ons.

Clearlake acquired Pretium in 2020 from Genstar Capital. In 2021, the business completed the acquisition of Alpha Packaging, adding nine facilities across the United States, Canada, and Europe, followed by a smaller deal for Grupo Edid a few months later.

In isolation, the add-ons were part of a standard inorganic strategy that picked up where Genstar had left off, with the prior owner completing a series of deals through its hold.

But within a year, the thesis began to veer off track.

Pretium was caught off guard by a greater-than-expected reset in packaging demand as its COVID sales bump faded. Rising rates and inflation also took a toll.

By 2022 and 2023, customers had begun aggressively destocking, which collapsed Pretium volumes and the manufacturer's plant utilization rates.

That led to fixed-cost absorption problems. In response, the company closed five plants and laid off hundreds of workers in 2022 (plus a Jacksonville facility last summer).

Even so, by October 2023, Pretium needed a reprieve.

The company executed a textbook liability management transaction: it raised $325 million in new first-lien tranche A loans from existing lenders and exchanged 99.8 percent of the legacy term loan into new tranche A-1 paper at a 6.4 percent discount to face value. The deal captured roughly $83 million in discount and provided more than $200 million in liquidity.

But the relief was short-lived. By January 2025, the A-1 term loan was already trading in the mid-60s—the second-worst-performing leveraged loan that week. By June, it had fallen into the low 50s, and by October, it was trading below 40 cents on the dollar.

While that was happening, Clearlake made headlines with an unusually large expansion to its disqualified lender list.

The move came after a prospective buyer had reportedly circled a block trade that would have given it a significant position in the capital structure. Expanding the DQ list was Clearlake's strategy to prevent any further attempts.

Reaching nearly 100 names, it was the deepest such roster market participants could recall.

At the time, observers cautioned against the tactic's potential risks: "When DQ lists get too broad, they risk severely restricting secondary market liquidity and leaving par holders stranded in the debt, limiting options in a restructuring," said Grant Nachman, founder and chief investment officer at Shorecliff Asset Management, in an interview with Bloomberg.

"The potential result is ending up with creditors in bankruptcy who cannot sell and do not want to own the company or inject new equity."

Despite questions raised over the unorthodox approach, Clearlake ultimately hammered out a deal with creditors.

Under the current plan, holders of the roughly $1.3 billion in A-1 term loans will receive approximately $500 million in new first-lien second-out exit debt plus 72.5 percent of the reorganized company's equity—before dilution from participation fees on the debtor-in-possession financing.

Second-lien holders receive $5.7 million in cash and 5.6 percent of the equity. General unsecured creditors ride through unimpaired.

The debtor-in-possession package includes a $100 million ABL facility rolling over from the prepetition revolver and up to $533.5 million in new-money term loans backstopped by existing A-1 holders. The term DIP carries interest at SOFR plus 525 basis points, with a 10 percent commitment fee paid in reorganized equity and an additional 11.5 percent backstop fee, also in equity.

The $337.6 million in tranche A term loans—the senior tranche that funded the 2023 transaction—will be repaid in full in cash.

Clearlake will invest $50 million in new equity and walk away with 21.9 percent of the reorganized company.

The sponsor and management are confident in Pretium's go-forward viability. In his supporting declaration, CFO Federico Barreto claims that performance has stabilized under new leadership (CEO James Rooney joined in 2024), with execution of facility consolidations and cost cuts, as well as more than $100 million in annualized new business wins during the last fiscal year.

But even after shedding $900 million in debt, Pretium will exit bankruptcy with roughly $500 million in first-lien second-out term loans, the converted DIP debt in the first-lien first-out position, and whatever ABL drawings exist at emergence.

The first-day hearing occurred on January 30, with confirmation scheduled for February 23. The debtors expect to emerge within 30 days of confirmation.

Kirkland & Ellis and Cole Schotz serve as legal counsel to the debtors, with FTI Consulting as financial advisor and Evercore as investment banker. Milbank and Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi represent the ad hoc group of term loan lenders, with Moelis as their banker. Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes represents a supporting minority lender group.

• Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) and Glencore (LSE: GLEN) abandoned plans for a merger valued at $260 billion after failing to agree on price, per The Guardian.

• KKR and Singtel agreed to acquire the remaining 82 percent stake in ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, a data center operator, for approximately $5.2 billion from ST Telemedia.

• Bob's Discount Furniture, a home furnishings retailer backed by Bain Capital, raised $331 million in its IPO and opened trading on the NYSE (BOBS) at a $2.2 billion valuation.

• I Squared Capital is exploring the sale of BDx, its Asian data center business, which could be valued at around $2 billion, per Bloomberg.

• Forgent Power Solutions (NYSE: FPS), a Neos Partners-backed manufacturer of electrical distribution equipment for data centers, raised $1.5 billion in its IPO priced at the $27 midpoint.

• SiTime (Nasdaq: SITM) agreed to acquire Renesas Electronics' timing business for $1.5 billion in cash and approximately 4.13 million shares.

• Genius Sports (NYSE: GENI) agreed to acquire Legend, a sports and gaming media technology platform, for up to $1.2 billion.

• E&J Gallo Winery agreed to acquire Four Roses, a Kentucky bourbon distillery, for up to $775 million from Kirin Holdings.

• Kodiak Gas Services (NYSE: KGS) agreed to acquire Distributed Power Solutions, a Pearland, Texas-based provider of distributed power generation services, for around $675 million.

• 4x4 Capital acquired Bob Evans Restaurants, a New Albany, Ohio-based family-dining chain with around 400 locations, from Golden Gate Capital.

• P10 (NYSE: PX) agreed to acquire Stellus Capital Management, a Houston-based lower middle market direct lender, for an initial $250 million.

• Igneo Infrastructure Partners acquired Vault Digital Infrastructure, a U.S. data center platform with 75MW of capacity, from CVC DIF and Northleaf Capital Partners.

• Pearl Meyer, a portfolio company of Coalesce Capital, acquired Ampersand Leadership Group, a leadership advisory consultancy.

• Foresight Group invested in AsiaVerify, a regulatory technology platform providing real-time corporate verification and risk insights on Asian entities.

• Schneider Geospatial, a portfolio company of Align Capital Partners, acquired Bruce Harris & Associates, a Batavia, Illinois-based GIS consulting firm specializing in land records for local governments.

• Goldman Sachs Alternatives (NYSE: GS) invested in LearnWell, a Plymouth, Massachusetts-based provider of academic and mental health services for students.

• Reliable Energy Partners, a portfolio company of Soundcore Capital Partners, acquired Irvington Gas, a Kentucky-based bulk-propane distributor.

• Westcap invested in Fit Foods, a British Columbia-based manufacturer of sports nutrition and healthy-living supplements.

• Liberty Waste Solutions, a portfolio company of Allied Industrial Partners, acquired AJ Disposal, an Asheboro, North Carolina-based residential and commercial waste collection provider.

• PrimeFlight Aviation Services, a portfolio company of The Sterling Group and Capitol Meridian Partners, acquired GAT Airline Ground Support, a Peachtree City, Georgia-based provider of ground handling, cargo handling, and catering services, from Atlantic Street Capital.

• Liftoff Mobile, a mobile ad-tech provider backed by Blackstone and General Atlantic, postponed its U.S. IPO amid a tech stock rout driven by concerns over the impact of AI.

• Kingswood Capital Management acquired Safran Passenger Innovations, a provider of in-flight entertainment and connectivity solutions, from Safran (Paris: SAF) and renamed the business Rave Aerospace.

• Accela, a portfolio company of Berkshire Partners and Francisco Partners, acquired Novotx, a provider of GIS-centric asset and work management software for local governments and utilities.

• Quantum Rise, backed by Erie Street Growth Partners, acquired Dhauz, a Brazilian data science and engineering firm.

• H.I.G. Capital acquired CargoTuff, a Virginia-based manufacturer of load securement products.

• Woven Solutions, a portfolio company of Falfurrias Management Partners, acquired Apira Technologies, a provider of computer vision, machine learning, and AI systems, from JHH VC.

• Guardsquare, a portfolio company of Verdane, acquired Verimatrix XTD, a mobile application protection business, from Verimatrix (Euronext Paris: VMX).

• MARI, the live events holding company led by Ari Emanuel, acquired a majority stake in Bucket Listers, a platform for discovering local events and experiences.

Tech, Vertical SaaS, & Misc. Enterprise

• Cerebras Systems, a wafer-scale AI chipmaker, raised $1 billion in Series H funding at a $23 billion valuation led by Tiger Global, with participation from Benchmark, Fidelity, Atreides Management, Alpha Wave Global, Altimeter, AMD, Coatue, and 1789 Capital.

• ElevenLabs, a generative voice AI platform, raised $500 million in Series D funding at an $11 billion valuation led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, ICONIQ, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Evantic Capital, Bond, BroadLight Capital, NFDG, Valor Capital, AMP Coalition, and Smash Capital.

• Fundamental, a developer of foundation models for structured enterprise data, raised $255 million in Series A funding at a $1.2 billion valuation led by Oak HC/FT, with participation from Valor Equity Partners, Battery Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Hetz Ventures, and Illuminate Financial.

• Goodfire, an AI model interpretability lab, raised $150 million in Series B funding at a $1.25 billion valuation led by B Capital, with participation from Juniper Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, South Park Commons, Wing Venture Capital, DFJ Growth, and Salesforce Ventures.

• Resolve AI, an automated system reliability engineering and troubleshooting platform, raised $125 million in Series A funding at a $1 billion valuation led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Greylock Partners, Unusual Ventures, Artisanal Ventures, and A*.

• Adaption Labs, a developer of real-time learning AI models, raised $50 million in seed funding led by Emergence Capital Partners, with participation from Mozilla Ventures, Fifty Years, Threshold Ventures, Alpha Intelligence Capital, E14 Fund, and Neo.

• Duna, an AI business identity and onboarding platform, raised €30 million in Series A funding led by CapitalG, with participation from Index Ventures and Puzzle Ventures.

• Turnstile, an AI quote-to-cash platform for sales-led startups, raised $29 million in seed and Series A funding co-led by First Round Capital, OMERS Ventures, and Illuminate Financial.

• Daytona, an infrastructure platform for AI agents, raised $24 million in Series A funding led by FirstMark Capital, with participation from Pace Capital, Upfront Ventures, E2VC, Darkmode, Datadog, and Figma Ventures.

• Nixtla, a time series forecasting AI developer, raised $16 million in Series A funding led by Energize Capital, with participation from True Ventures and GreatPoint Ventures.

• Nullify, an AI product security platform, raised $12.5 million in seed funding led by SYN Ventures, with participation from Black Nova Venture Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, Root Ventures, and OIF Ventures.

• Cadastral, an AI platform for commercial real estate, raised $9.5 million in seed funding from Navitas, JLL Spark Global Ventures, AvalonBay, Equity Residential, and 1Sharpe.

Fintech

• Anchorage Digital, a digital asset bank, raised $100 million in strategic equity funding from Tether at a $4.2 billion valuation.

• Accrual, an AI-powered accounting automation platform, raised $75 million in Series A funding led by General Catalyst, with participation from Pruven Capital, Edward Jones Ventures, and Go Global Ventures.

• TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence platform for crypto crime detection, raised $70 million in Series C funding at a $1 billion valuation led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from CMT Digital, Goldman Sachs, Bessemer Venture Partners, DRW Venture Capital, Y Combinator, Thoma Bravo, Alumni Ventures, Citi Ventures, Brevan Howard Digital, and Galaxy Ventures.

• Bound, an automated FX risk management platform for businesses, raised $24.5 million in Series A funding led by AlbionVC, with participation from Notion Capital and GoHub Ventures.

• Alinea, an AI wealth management platform for first-time investors, raised $22.5 million in user acquisition financing from PvX Partners.

• Sapiom, a financial infrastructure platform for autonomous AI agent purchasing, raised $15.75 million in seed funding led by Accel, with participation from Okta Ventures, Gradient Ventures, Array Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Anthropic, Coinbase Ventures, Formus Capital, and Operator Collective.

• Spire, a Dallas-based merchant-branded pay-by-bank platform, raised $10 million in Series B funding led by Continental Investment Partners.

Consumer & Media

• Lawhive, an AI legal platform for consumers, raised $60 million in Series B funding from TQ Ventures, GV, Balderton Capital, Jigsaw, and LTS.

Healthcare

• Chamber, a value-based cardiology platform, raised $60 million in Series A funding led by Frist Cressey Ventures, with participation from General Catalyst, AlleyCorp, American Family Ventures, Company Ventures, Optum Ventures, and debt from HSBC Innovation Banking.

• Third Arc Bio, a developer of multifunctional antibodies for solid tumors and inflammatory diseases, raised $52 million in Series A extension funding co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Omega Funds, with participation from Life Sciences at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, BVF Partners, abrdn, T. Rowe Price, Marshall Wace, Hillhouse Investment, Galapagos, AbbVie Ventures, and Alderline Group.

• Gardia, an AI-powered fall-detection system for seniors, raised €8.5 million in Series A funding led by Peak, with participation from Amberra, Butterfly & Elephant, Bonventure, Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures, and Beurer.

Industrials, Greentech, & Other

• Overland AI, a Seattle-based developer of autonomous ground systems for defense, raised $100 million in new funding led by 8VC, with participation from Point72 Ventures, Ascend Venture Capital, Shasta Ventures, Overmatch Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, and StepStone Group, alongside a $20 million venture debt facility from TriplePoint Capital.

• Newcleo, a developer of fourth-generation nuclear reactors, raised $85 million in new funding from Danieli & C., Cementir Holding NV, Orion Valves, NextChem, Kairos, Indaco Ventures, Azimut Investments, the CERN pension fund, and Walter Tosto.

• R3 Robotics, a Luxembourg-based developer of automated EV component disassembly systems, raised €20 million in Series A funding and grants co-led by HG Ventures and Suma Capital, with participation from Oetker Collection, European Innovation Council Fund, BONVENTURE, FlixFounders, and EIT Urban Mobility.

• pHathom Technologies, a Canadian carbon capture and marine storage startup for coastal facilities, raised $12.5 million in seed funding led by Propeller Ventures, with participation from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, Invest Nova Scotia, and Carmeuse Ventures.

• Nomagic, a warehouse robotics startup for fulfillment operations, raised $10 million in Series B extension funding led by Cogito Capital Partners.

• Uplift360, a developer of chemical regeneration technology for defense and aerospace composites, raised €7.4 million in seed funding led by Extantia Capital, with participation from the NATO Innovation Fund, Promus Ventures, and Fund F.

• Geolinks, a French subsurface monitoring technology developer, raised €6 million in seed funding from Calderion, Bpifrance, BRGM Invest, and InnoEnergy.

• 2048 Ventures raised an oversubscribed $82 million for its third fund focused on pre-seed and seed investments in vertical AI, deep tech, healthcare, and biotech.

• Mundi Ventures held a €750 million first close for Kembara, a European deep tech and climate growth fund targeting €1 billion, anchored by the European Investment Fund.

• Shore Capital Partners raised over $400 million for its second industrial fund focused on niche businesses in infrastructure-adjacent services and specialized maintenance markets.

• Carousel Capital closed a continuation fund to support the continued ownership of Ethos Risk Services, a Florida-based provider of tech-enabled insurance claims investigation and medical management solutions, anchored by lead investor Dextra Partners.

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