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

• A look at the latest single-asset continuation fund updates

• Plus, a pair of possible IPO exits for Thoma Bravo and BC Partners

The latest on single-asset continuation funds:

Single-asset continuation funds, which allow firms to extend their hold by moving a single portfolio company into a new vehicle backed by secondary investors, are back in the news again—both good and bad—after a slower 2023.

On the positive end of the spectrum, single-asset transactions have surpassed multi-asset as more middle market sponsors strategically employ them on favored assets (vs. the more common multi-asset portfolio management usage among large-cap sponsors), according to market data from Evercore.

Broadly, GP-led secondary transaction volume through the first half of 2024 is nearly double that of the prior year, and Vista Equity Partners, Clearlake Capital Group, and Advent International are all currently planning new launches.

Per Secondaries Investor, Advent International is working with Evercore on a process for Xplor Technologies, the software and payments company formed from the merger of Clearent and Transaction Services Group in 2021.

Vista is reportedly also working with Evercore on a possible continuation fund for the creatively-named Cloud Software Group, the combination of its Citrix Systems take-private and TIBCO Software.

The deal, which closed in 2022 for $16.5 billion (plus the $4.3 billion TIBCO acquisition in 2014), is one of Vista's largest ever and would be the firm’s first continuation fund. Its size may make for a more challenging raise, and it’s expected that Vista will elect to move only a portion of its stake into the continuation vehicle—potentially around $2 billion.

Similarly, Clearlake is said to be evaluating a single-asset continuation fund for Constant Contact (Evercore is advising here as well), the email marketing platform it acquired alongside Siris Capital in 2021, which sold its 50 percent stake in February.

Clearlake has been among the most active users of the strategy, with its five "Icon Partners" continuation funds launched in 2021 for a handful of its portfolio companies.

Funds I (software services provider Ivanti) and II (data integrity platform Precisely) have had positive outcomes, but performance in the remaining lineup has been somewhat muted: Icon IV and V were marked at a TVPI of 1.0x and 1.2x, respectively, as of December.

That brings us to the less positive single-asset CV news this week: Clearlake's Wheel Pros, held in Icon Partners III, filed for Chapter 11 on Tuesday. There haven't been many continuation fund bankruptcies to date, so it’s a notable development for the relatively new structure.

One of Icon III's lead investors is ICG, which said earlier this week that it’s now planning to slow its pace of deployment into new single-asset deals. The Wheel Pros outcome was not the reason given, but rather what chief investment officer and CEO Benoît Durteste says is a "huge supply/demand imbalance, particularly for larger sized transactions where we're actually having to put the brakes on deployment."

Despite seemingly isolated hiccups like Wheel Pros, the earliest data available on continuation fund performance is positive. Paris' HEC School of Management released a study in March showing that 2019 - 2023 vintage continuation funds recorded an average TVPI of 1.49x, largely in line with the 1.51x benchmark of traditional buyout.

Notably, the returns dispersion on continuation funds was lower than that of buyout.

The subset of single-asset continuation funds also performed slightly better than multi-asset, which, the study notes, would be expected based on the higher risk premium from concentration.

Continuation funds have, however, trended toward lower management fee rates—typically around one percent of invested capital—than traditional blind pool funds. With HEC's findings based on performance net of fees, it’s possible that there is actually a slightly wider gap in underlying performance.

• Deutsche Bahn, the German national railroad, agreed to sell its DB Schenker logistics unit to Denmark’s DSV for €14.3 billion despite a competing €16 billion bid from CVC (which included an earnout).

• Thoma Bravo is considering an IPO for SailPoint Technologies, an enterprise security software provider, roughly two years after taking it private for $6.9 billion, per Bloomberg.

• Arctos Partners is in talks to acquire a minority stake in the Miami Dolphins from owner Stephen Ross at a valuation above $7 billion, potentially including partial ownership of the F1 Miami Grand Prix and Hard Rock Stadium, per The New York Times.

• Springer Nature, the academic publisher owned by Holtzbrinck Publishing Group and BC Partners, plans to go public on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange by year-end.

• DigitalBridge Group (NYSE: DBRG) is considering options, including a potential sale, for EdgePoint Infrastructure, its Southeast Asian telecoms tower business, which could be valued at up to $4 billion, per Bloomberg.

• Blackstone (NYSE: BX) is considering the sale of a majority stake in VFS Global, a provider of outsourced visa processing services, which could be worth around $7 billion, per Bloomberg.

• Junior Bridgeman, owner of Ebony and Jet magazines and former NBA player, acquired a 10 percent stake in the Milwaukee Bucks at a valuation of around $4 billion.

• Delek Logistics Partners (NYSE: DKL) acquired H2O Midstream, a provider of water, transportation, storage, and disposal services in the Midland Basin, from EIV Capital for $230 million.

• Lactalis and Sodiaal agreed to acquire General Mills' (NYSE: GIS) North American yogurt business, including brands Yoplait, Liberté, and Go-Gurt, for $2.1 billion.

• Mastercard (NYSE: MA) agreed to acquire threat intelligence platform Recorded Future from Insight Partners and Pantheon for around $2.65 billion.

• Archimed agreed to acquire Jeisys Medical, a developer of aesthetic medicine devices, for around $742 million.

• Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is exploring the sale of a $1.5 billion portfolio of private equity fund stakes and is working with Jefferies to gauge buyer interest.

• Altas Partners invested in Sedgwick, a provider of claims management and loss-adjusting services owned by Carlyle and Stone Point, at a $13.2 billion valuation.

• Havanna has hired UBS to explore the sale of its Latin American alfajores and confectionery business.

• New Mountain Capital is merging portfolio companies Rawlings Group, Varis, and Apixio's Payment Integrity business to create a new healthcare payment integrity platform.

• Aleph Capital Partners and Crestview Partners invested in Saber Interactive, a video game developer.

• Silversmith Capital Partners invested $40 million in Novatus Global, a London-based provider of regulatory tech solutions for financial institutions.

• Shamrock Capital invested in Nth Degree, an event management and experiential marketing company.

• mPulse, backed by PSG, acquired Zipari, a provider of healthcare consumer experience technology for payors, from Thoma Bravo.

• Triage acquired RTG Medical, a Fremont, Nebraska-based healthcare staffing firm.

• Health Union, backed by Court Square Capital Partners, acquired Adfire Health, a provider of HCP-focused digital marketing solutions for life sciences companies.

• Impetus Wellness Group, backed by AEA Investors, acquired Reliance Vitamin, a manufacturer of private-label supplements, from Swander Pace Capital.

• 4M Building Solutions, backed by O2 Investment Partners, acquired Hi-Tec Building Services and Thario Building Services, commercial cleaning companies in Michigan and Wisconsin.

• Sentry Insurance agreed to acquire The General, a nonstandard auto insurer, from American Family Insurance for $1.7 billion.

• Avolon agreed to acquire Castlelake Aviation Limited, Castlelake's aircraft leasing business.

• Coalesce Capital agreed to acquire Miller Environmental Group, a provider of waste, industrial, and environmental services, from GenNx360 Capital Partners.

• HSBC Holdings (LSE: HSBA) is in talks to sell its South African corporate banking business to Rand Merchant Bank, a unit of FirstRand (JSE: FSR), South Africa's largest lender by market value, per Bloomberg.

• New Mountain Capital and Endicott Capital invested in Datassential, a food and beverage trends and data intelligence platform.

• Tower Arch Capital recapitalized Miller Industries, a Fenton, MI-based designer and manufacturer of modular systems for air handling, utility plants, and electrical substations.

• Mousse Partners and Tethys Invest acquired a minority stake in The Row, the luxury fashion brand founded by Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, at a valuation of around $1 billion, per Bloomberg.

• National Grid (LSE: NG) agreed to sell its Electricity System Operator to the UK government for £630 million.

• Sullivan Street Partners acquired UKAT, a provider of residential addiction treatment services, from Global Growth.

Tech, Vertical SaaS, & Misc. Enterprise

• Strider Technologies, a developer of national intelligence tools, raised $55 million in Series C funding led by Pelion Venture Partners, with participation from AXA Venture Partners, Valor Equity Partners, DataTribe, and Cyfr Capital.

• Aembit, a non-human identity and access management platform, raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Acrew Capital, with participation from Ballistic Ventures, Ten Eleven Ventures, Okta Ventures, and CrowdStrike Falcon Fund.

• Bounti, a developer of AI products for sales teams, raised $16 million in seed funding led by Google Ventures, with participation from Floodgate, Bloomberg Beta, Haystack, Octave Ventures, and MS&AD.

• Landbase, an AI-powered go-to-market platform, raised $12.5 million in seed funding co-led by A*, 8VC, and First Minute Capital, with participation from Inovia Capital, Picus Capital, and General Catalyst.

• Operant AI, a runtime AI application protection platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding co-led by SineWave Ventures and Felicis, with participation from Alumni Ventures, Massive, Calm Ventures, and Gaingels.

Fintech

• Huma Finance, a tokenized real-world assets platform, raised $38 million in funding led by Distributed Global, with participation from Hashkey Capital, Folius Ventures, Stellar Development Foundation, and TIBAS Ventures.

• Polly, a mortgage capital markets tech startup, raised $25 million in new growth equity funding led by 8VC, with participation from Menlo Ventures, Meritech, Khosla Ventures, and Fifth Wall.

• Centricity, a Indian wealth management platform, raised $20 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed, with participation from Paramark VC.

• Push Cash, an instant bank transfers platform, raised $4 million in seed funding led by Foundation Capital.

Consumer & Media

• Cypher Games, a Turkish mobile game developer, raised $10 million in seed funding led by The Raine Group, with participation from Play Ventures and 500 Global.

• DELLI, an online retail platform for independent food and beverage brands, raised $6 million in seed extension funding led by Balderton and HV Capital.

• Mother Games, a Brooklyn-based mobile game developer, raised $5 million in new funding from BoxGroup, Shine, and Lerer Hippeau Ventures.

Healthcare

• F2G, a clinical-stage biotech developing novel therapies for rare fungal infections, raised $100 million in new funding co-led by AMR Action Fund and ICG Life Sciences, with participation from Novo Holdings, Advent Life Sciences, Sofinnova Partners, Forbion, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Morningside Ventures, Brace Pharmaceuticals, and Merifin Capital.

• Inflammatix, a molecular diagnostics company developing rapid tests for acute infection and sepsis, raised $57 million in Series E funding led by Khosla Ventures and Think.Health, with participation from Northpond Ventures, D1 Capital Partners, Iberis Capital, Vesalius BioCapital, OSF Healthcare, and RAW Ventures.

• Habitat Health, an integrated aging at-home healthcare payor and provider, raised over $50 million in funding from Town Hall Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, and Kaiser Permanente.

• XP Health, a vision benefits platform, raised $33.2 million in Series B funding led by QED Investors, with participation from Canvas Ventures, American Family Ventures, HC9 Ventures, Valor Capital Group, and Manchester Story.

Industrials, Greentech, & Other

• ZeroAvia, a developer of hydrogen-electric aircraft engines, raised $150 million in Series C funding co-led by Airbus, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital and NEOM Investment Fund.

• Reverion, a developer of carbon-negative power plants, raised $62 million in Series A funding led by Energy Impact Partners, with participation from Honda, European Innovation Council Fund, Extantia Capital, UVC Partners, Green Generation Fund, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, and Possible Ventures.

• Invinity Energy Systems, a utility-grade energy storage manufacturer, raised £50 million in new funding from UK Infrastructure Bank and Korea Investment Partners.

• Novameat, a Barcelona-based sustainable meat alternatives startup, raised €17.4 million in Series A funding led by Sofinnova Partners and Forbion via its BioEconomy Fund, with participation from Unovis Asset Management, Praesidium, and Rubio Impact Ventures.

• Aifleet, an Austin-based AI trucking company, raised $16.6 million in Series B funding led by Heron Rock, with participation from Volvo Group Venture Capital, Obvious Ventures, Ibex Investors, Compound, Winthrop Square, and Cooley.

• SOLASTA Bio, a developer of bioinsecticides, raised $14 million in Series A funding led by Forbion's BioEconomy fund, with co-lead investment from FMC Ventures and Corteva Catalyst, and participation from Cavallo Ventures, Rubio Impact Ventures, Scottish Enterprise, UKi2S, and SIS Ventures.

• Sound Point Capital Management raised $1.2 billion for its third U.S. direct lending fund, plus an additional $500 million through a separately managed account.

• Rethink Impact raised more than $250 million for its third fund focused on female founders.

• Fika Ventures raised $160 million for its fourth fund focused on early-stage B2B software startups.

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