As part of its restructuring of portfolio company Vibrantz Technologies last month, American Securities required lenders to sign agreements restricting discussions with peers before it would disclose terms, Bloomberg reports.

People familiar with the matter said Vibrantz launched its liability management exercise—labeled "tantamount to default" by S&P—with around 90 percent support from its creditors after reaching deals with two separate groups.

Then, the borrower reached out separately to cut side deals with a handful of larger lenders, including GoldenTree Asset Management, Monarch Alternative Capital, and Oak Hill Advisors. The select group agreed to provide a fresh $350 million first-out loan, pushing all excluded lenders further down the stack.

Under the Vibrantz's communications restrictions, lenders considering the initial proposal were forced to decide whether to support the transaction or break from the creditor group without any information on the terms peers were receiving.

For the smaller lenders left out of the separate discussions, the side deal means they will now be repaid only after the first-out group is made whole.

The situation fits a broader pattern of sponsor-led restructurings.

“Sponsor behavior is getting even more aggressive in a market where lenders for the last few years have leaned in and played the game,” Scott Greenberg, a partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, told Bloomberg. “The weaponization of NDAs and other ways to prevent lenders from talking to one another seems to be pushing the limits and inconsistent with the collective action provisions in credit docs that require lenders to coordinate,” he said.

This is part of the reason why the market has seen a surge in the use of co-operation agreements over the past 24 months. According to data from 9fin, around 45 co-op agreements were entered into in the US in 2024, up from an average of just four per year between 2018 and 2023.

Continuing the back-and-forth, sponsors have begun inserting language into credit agreements specifically targeting co-ops, such as a recent Thoma Bravo clause that forced lenders to disclose any such moves, giving the firm an opportunity to preempt collective action before momentum builds.

• McCormick & Company (Nasdaq: MKC) agreed to acquire Unilever's (NYSE: UL) Foods business, including brands such as Hellmann's, Knorr, and Frank's RedHot, for $44.8 billion.

• KNDS, the Franco-German defense group and maker of Germany's Leopard 2 tanks, has begun investor meetings for a Frankfurt IPO that could raise up to €5 billion at a €25 billion valuation, per Bloomberg.

• Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) agreed to acquire Centessa Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CNTA), a clinical-stage sleep-wake disorder biotech, for $6.3 billion upfront plus a CVR of up to $9 per share, for a total potential value of $7.8 billion.

• Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB) agreed to acquire Apellis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: APLS), a rare-disease and immunology drugmaker, for $5.6 billion, plus a CVR of $2 per share if Syfovre reaches $1.5 billion in annual global net sales.

• KKR agreed to acquire Taiyo Holdings, a Japanese electronics chemicals manufacturer, for around $3.3 billion.

• Alpha Wave Global, Carlyle, and Anchorage Capital invested in Nxtra Data, an India-based data center subsidiary of Bharti Airtel.

• Carlyle agreed to acquire a majority stake in MAI Capital Management, a Cleveland-based registered investment adviser, in a deal valuing the firm at more than $2.8 billion.

• HMH Holding, a Baker Hughes- and Akastor-backed drilling equipment and services provider, raised $210 million in its Nasdaq IPO, pricing at $20 per share within its $19–$22 range at an initial market value of around $862 million.

• Inflexion acquired Marioff, a Finland-based provider of high-pressure water mist fire suppression systems, from Sentinel Capital Partners' Spectrum Safety Solutions for more than $500 million.

• Resultant, backed by Investcorp, acquired Liberty Advisor Group, a Chicago-based M&A advisory and technology consulting firm.

• Archer Foodservice Partners, a portfolio company of Wynnchurch Capital, agreed to acquire the foodservice business of SternoCandleLamp from Compass Diversified (NYSE: CODI) for $292.5 million.

• 26North Partners agreed to acquire Intermedia Intelligent Communications, an AI-powered cloud communications and collaboration platform, from Madison Dearborn Partners.

• Flynn Group acquired Grand Fitness Partners, a Planet Fitness franchisee, from HGGC and Monogram Capital Partners.

• Oak Hill Capital acquired Hunter Communications, an Oregon-based fiber-optic internet provider, from Grain Management.

• H.I.G. Capital acquired Global Elite Group, a provider of unarmed aviation security services for airports and cargo operators, from Securitas (Swiss: SECU).

• Afreshed, an Austrian organic produce rescue-box company, acquired Etepetete, a Munich-based food rescue startup backed by KI Capital.

• Windjammer Capital acquired PrecisionX Group, a Waterbury, Connecticut-based manufacturer of high-precision metal components for aerospace & defense, medical device, and satellite & space end markets, from CORE Industrial Partners.

• Closed Loop Partners acquired a majority stake in Sutter Metals, a Lacey, Washington-based metals management solutions provider.

• LongueVue Capital completed a majority recapitalization of Apex Dental Laboratory Group, a dental laboratory platform, alongside Swaney Group Capital.

• Del Monte Capital completed a majority recapitalization of DLG Infrastructure Services, a Houston-based municipal water and sewer infrastructure contractor.

• Mountaingate Capital acquired UpSwell Marketing, a Marietta, Georgia-based direct response marketing platform.

• Advent International and Cinven are considering an IPO for TK Elevator, a German elevator and escalator manufacturer, per Bloomberg.

• MTIP acquired a majority stake in Verifarma, a Spain-based pharma serialization, traceability, and regulatory compliance solutions provider.

• Greenbelt Capital Partners invested in American Wire Group, a Miami-based wire and cable solutions provider for the electrification market.

• Eir Partners Capital invested in Long Tail, a provider of AI-native software and services for utilization management, physician advisory, and denials and appeals workflows for hospitals and health systems.

• Cordillera Investment Partners invested in Northridge Law, a London-based sports law firm.

• Quad-C Management invested in Dane Street, a Florida-based provider of independent medical examination and peer review services for the insurance and healthcare industries.

• Apex Capital invested in El Latino, a Miami-based Latin American and Caribbean specialty food brand.

• Kain Capital invested in White Wilson Medical Center, a Fort Walton Beach, Florida-based independent multi-specialty physician group, as part of its emergence from bankruptcy.

• Prescient Healthcare Group, a portfolio company of Bridgepoint, acquired Dolon, a London-based pricing and market access consultancy for pharma and biotech companies.

• GALLS, a Charlesbank Capital Partners portfolio company, acquired CMS Uniforms and Equipment, a Nashville-based regional public safety outfitter.

• Tiger Infrastructure Partners invested in Orbis Protect, a UK-based critical security infrastructure provider.

• FormativGroup, backed by Rockbridge Growth Equity, acquired Flok, a Salesforce consulting firm.

• Accel-KKR acquired a majority stake in AccessPay, a Manchester-based bank integration and payment automation provider, with existing backer Beringea exiting as part of the deal.

• Osprey Landscape Group, a portfolio company of Southfield Capital, acquired Palm Gardens Landscape, a Dallas-Fort Worth commercial landscaping company.

• ATIS, a portfolio company of Thompson Street Capital Partners, acquired Vinspec, an Alberta-based elevator and escalator inspection and consulting services provider.

• Michelli Weighing & Measurement, a portfolio company of Summit Park, acquired Florida Industrial Scale Company and Industrial Scale and Measurement, two industrial weighing and calibration services providers.

• Allshares, a portfolio company of Bregal Milestone, acquired Amalia, a French sales commission and performance management software provider.

Tech, Vertical SaaS, & Misc. Enterprise

• Rebellions, a South Korean fabless AI inference chip company, raised $400 million in pre-IPO funding at a $2.34 billion valuation, co-led by Mirae Asset Financial Group and the Korea National Growth Fund.

• TENEX AI, a Sarasota, Florida-based managed detection and response cybersecurity company, raised $250 million in Series B funding at a valuation of over $1 billion led by Crosspoint Capital Partners, with participation from Shield Capital, DeepWork Capital, DTCP, and the Florida Opportunity Fund.

• ScaleOps, an Israeli cloud infrastructure resource management platform, raised $130 million in Series C funding at a valuation exceeding $800 million led by Insight Partners, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, NFX, Glilot Capital Partners, and Picture Capital.

• Coder, an Austin-based cloud-based development environment platform for enterprises, raised $90 million in Series C funding led by KKR, with participation from Qube Research & Technologies and Uncork Capital.

• Depthfirst, an AI platform helping security teams detect, triage, and remediate software vulnerabilities, raised $80 million in Series B funding led by Meritech Capital, with participation from Forerunner Ventures, The House Fund, Accel, Box Group, Liquid 2 Ventures, Alt Capital, and Mantis VC.

• Censys, an Ann Arbor-based attack surface management and threat intelligence platform, raised $70 million in strategic funding, comprising a $40 million Series D round led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and $30 million in debt financing, with participation from Decibel Partners, Greylock Partners, GV, and Intel Capital.

• Qodo, a New York-based AI code review and governance platform, raised $70 million in Series B funding led by Qumra Capital, with participation from Maor Ventures, Phoenix Venture Partners, S Ventures, Square Peg, and Susa Ventures.

• Crosby, a New York-based law firm that pairs licensed attorneys with AI software to review commercial contracts, raised $60 million in Series B funding co-led by Lux Capital and Index Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, 01 Advisors, and Bain Capital Ventures.

• IQM Quantum Computers, a Finland-based superconducting quantum computing company, raised €50 million in new funding from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock.

• Sona, a London-based workforce management platform for frontline workers covering scheduling, HR, payroll, and compliance, raised $45 million in Series B funding led by N47, with participation from Felicis, Northzone, Gradient, and Italian Founders Fund.

• Treeline, a San Francisco-based AI-powered managed IT, security, and compliance platform, raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.

• Kestra, an open-source workflow orchestration platform, raised $25 million in Series A funding led by RTP Global, with participation from Alven, ISAI, and Axeleo.

• Variance, a San Francisco-based AI agent platform for risk and compliance investigations, raised $21.5 million in Series A funding led by Ten Eleven Ventures, with participation from 645 Ventures, Y Combinator, Urban Innovation Fund, and Okta Ventures.

Fintech

• 9fin, a platform for debt capital markets, raised $170 million in Series C funding at a $1.3 billion valuation led by HarbourVest, with participation from CPP Investments, Highland Europe, Spark Capital, Redalpine, Seedcamp, and British Business Bank.

• OpenFX, a Miami-based cross-border FX and stablecoin payments platform, raised $94 million in Series A funding co-led by Accel, Atomico, Lightspeed Faction, M13, Northzone, and Pantera, with participation from Flybridge and Hash3.

• Midas, a Berlin-based onchain investment platform, raised $50 million in Series A funding co-led by RRE Ventures and Creandum, with participation from Framework Ventures, HV Capital, Ledger Cathay, Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, M1 Capital, Anchorage Digital, FJ Labs, North Island Ventures, No Limit Holdings, and GSR.

• Valinor, a blockchain-based private credit infrastructure platform, raised $25 million in seed funding led by Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Maven11 and Susquehanna Crypto.

Consumer & Media

• WHOOP, a Boston-based wearable health and performance platform, raised $575 million in Series G funding at a $10.1 billion valuation led by Collaborative Fund, with participation from 2PointZero Group, Qatar Investment Authority, Mubadala Investment Company, Abbott, Mayo Clinic, Macquarie Capital, IVP, and GP Bullhound.

• Create Wellness, a New York-based creatine gummy supplement brand, raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Alliance Consumer Growth, with participation from Impact Capital and Unilever Ventures.

Healthcare

• Ambrosia Biosciences, a Boulder, Colorado-based biotech focused on oral small molecule GLP-1 agonists for obesity and cardiometabolic disorders, raised $100 million in Series B funding co-led by Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Redmile, and Deep Track Capital, with participation from BVF Partners, Boulder Ventures, Janus Henderson Investors, and Samsara BioCapital.

• Jimini Health, a New York-based AI platform providing clinician-supervised patient tools for behavioral health providers, raised $17 million in seed funding led by M13, with participation from Town Hall Ventures, LionBird, Zetta Venture Partners, and OneMind.

• Scala Biodesign, a Tel Aviv-based computational protein design platform, raised $16 million in Series A funding led by Grove Ventures, with participation from TLV Partners and Deep Insight.

Industrials, Greentech, & Other

• Saronic, an Austin-based developer of autonomous military vessels, raised $1.75 billion in a Series D round led by Kleiner Perkins, more than doubling its valuation to $9.25 billion.

• Starcloud, a Redmond, Washington-based developer of orbital data centers for AI compute, raised $170 million in Series A funding co-led by Benchmark and EQT Ventures, valuing the company at $1.1 billion.

• EPG, a Singapore-based modular and prefabricated data center infrastructure company, raised over $100 million in Series B+ funding co-led by Decarbonization Partners and Alibaba Cloud.

• Voltify, a US-Israeli startup that retrofits diesel locomotives with battery-electric systems, raised $30 million in seed funding co-led by Aleph and Fortescue, with participation from Menomadin, Jimpact, The Dock, and E44 Ventures.

• ThinkLabs AI, a GE Vernova spinout developing physics-informed AI for power grid planning, raised $28 million in Series A funding led by Energy Impact Partners, with participation from NVentures, Edison International, Powerhouse Ventures, Active Impact Investments, and Blackhorn Ventures.

• OceanSound Partners raised $3.4 billion for its third flagship fund, focused on government and enterprise technology investments.

• HCI Equity Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based lower middle market private equity firm, rebranded as Oridian Capital Partners.

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