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

• A look at Bain and Cinven’s plans for Stada

• Plus, AlphaSense raises at a $4 billion valuation and picks up Tegus

A menu of exit options for Stada:

Bain Capital and Cinven first invited banks to pitch for a role on a transaction involving Stada, their German pharmaceutical company, nearly a year ago.

After spinning off its Russian division into a separate company in December—a necessary first step—the business now appears headed for a full or partial exit by the end of the summer.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is seen as the current frontrunner for a potential deal, moving ahead of rival suitors KKR and CVC Capital Partners.

Bids are due later this week in a sale process that kicked off with fireside chats back in April, according to Reuters. At the time, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Hillhouse, Nordic Capital, and Koch Industries had also expressed preliminary interest.

Despite the relatively strong sponsor interest, Bain and Cinven have continued work on a dual-track exit process with ongoing preparations for a domestic IPO. To add even more competitive pressure, reports suggest Bain and Cinven are also exploring options for the sale of a minority stake.

Valuation expectations in either scenario are now north of €11 billion, up from the €10 billion figure that was widely reported last summer when news of the exit planning first broke.

Bain and Cinven acquired Stada in 2017 for €5.3 billion.

The company reported Adjusted EBITDA of €802 million for 2023 and posted topline growth of 17 percent year-over-year.

The performance was driven in part by the company’s consumer products unit, which matched the company’s overall growth rate for the year. Management says this is thanks to their “hero brands” strategy, emphasizing strong local brand awareness and loyalty for specific products in each market.

As part of that effort, Stada acquired 16 brands from Sanofi in 2021, another 16 in 2023, and inked a separate Asia-focused consumer health distribution agreement with the French firm. The company had previously acquired an OTC catalog from GSK in 2020 and purchased Czech consumer health company Walmark.

Despite broader industry challenges in recent years, Stada’s generics portfolio still brings in 40 percent of total sales (equivalent to consumer) and grew mid-single digits last year. Its specialty division jumped 25 percent year-over-year to account for the remainder and may continue to benefit from a pipeline of upcoming biosimilar launches.

• Apollo Global Management and Kyndryl (NYSE: KD) are in talks to jointly bid for DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC), an IT services vendor, at $22 to $25 per share, valuing the company at up to $4.5 billion, per Reuters.

• National Bank of Canada (TSX: NA) agreed to acquire regional lender Canadian Western Bank (TSX: CWB) for around $5 billion in an all-stock transaction.

• Edgar Bronfman Jr., with backing from Bain Capital, is considering a bid to acquire National Amusements, the holding company controlling Paramount Global (Nasdaq: PARA), for up to $2.5 billion, per the WSJ.

• Matador Resources agreed to acquire a portfolio of Delaware Basin assets from Ameredev II, a portfolio company of EnCap Investments, for $1.91 billion.

• AlphaSense agreed to acquire Tegus, a rival market intelligence provider, for $930 million (alongside a concurrent financing round).

• Ardian acquired a stake in Groupe Orion, a French wealth management firm.

• Addus HomeCare (Nasdaq: ADUS) agreed to acquire the personal care business of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice portfolio company Gentiva for around $350 million.

• General Atlantic's BeyondNetZero fund agreed to acquire a 24.9 percent stake in Sustainable Development Capital, a UK-based developer and fund manager focused on climate and decarbonization, for up to $50 million.

• Alten (Paris: LTEN) agreed to acquire Worldgrid, a provider of consulting and engineering services to energy utilities, from Atos (Paris: ATOS) for €270 million.

• Yext (NYSE: YEXT) agreed to acquire Hearsay Systems, a customer engagement platform for financial services firms, for $125 million plus up to $95 million in additional performance-based consideration.

• Madhive agreed to acquire Frequence, an omnichannel ad sales enablement platform for local media companies and agencies.

• Mercer, owned by Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC), agreed to acquire Cardano, a U.K.-based consultant to defined benefit retirement plans.

Portfolio Company Add-Ons

• Med-Metrix, a portfolio company of A&M Capital Partners, acquired Hospital Billing & Collection Service, a healthcare RCM provider.

• Stratus, a portfolio company of Vestar Capital Partners, acquired Priority, a Sheboygan, Wisconsin-based turnkey brand implementation provider, from Rubelmann Capital.

• Vector Laboratories, a portfolio company of Thompson Street Capital Partners, agreed to merge with Absolute Biotech, a manufacturer of antibody reagents.

• Clarity Innovations, a portfolio company of Capitol Meridian Partners, merged with Chameleon Consulting Group, a provider of cyber operations services to the US Department of Defense and the broader intelligence community.

• VTG, a portfolio company of A&M Capital Partners, acquired Clear Cloud, a provider of cloud solutions for mission-critical national security programs.

• SG Homecare, a portfolio company of Sverica Capital Management, acquired Western Drug Medical Supply, a supplier of DME and single-use medical supplies.

• Lineage Logistics, a temperature-controlled warehouse REIT backed by Bay Grove Capital, is weighing an IPO that could value it at over $30 billion, with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs retained as advisors.

Tech, Vertical SaaS, & Misc. Enterprise

• AlphaSense, a market intelligence and search platform, raised $650 million in new funding co-led by Viking Global Investors and BDT & MSD Partners, with participation from J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Blue Owl, Alkeon Capital, Alphabet's CapitalG, and Goldman Sachs Alternatives.

• Mistral AI, a Paris-based genAI startup, raised €600 million in Series B funding at a €5.8 billion valuation, including €132 million in debt financing and €468 million in equity led by DST Global and General Catalyst, with participation from Lightspeed, Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia, Samsung, and Salesforce Ventures.

• Cyberhaven, a San Jose-based data detection and response startup, raised $88 million in Series C funding co-led by Adams Street Partners and Khosla Ventures, with participation from Redpoint Ventures, Costanoa Ventures, Vertex Ventures, Crane Venture Partners, and Wing Venture Capital.

• Tenderd, a heavy equipment management platform, raised $30 million in Series A funding led by A.P. Moller Holding, with participation from Quadri Ventures, Saurya Prakash, Wa'ed Ventures, Nakhla Ventures, SOMA Capital, and Liquid 2 Ventures.

• Nexus Laboratories, a zero-knowledge cryptography startup, raised $25 million in Series A funding co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Pantera Capital, with participation from Dragonfly Capital, Faction Ventures, and Blockchain Builders Fund.

• Whoosh, a Mill Valley, CA-based operations platform for golf clubs, raised $10.3 million in Series A funding led by AlleyCorp, with participation from 8VC, Alaris Capital, Bienville, Craft Ventures, Eberg Capital, Operator Partners, and Raptor Group.

Fintech

• Stake, a Dubai-based digital platform for real estate investment, raised $14 million in Series A funding led by Middle East Venture Partners, with participation from Aramco's Wa'ed Ventures, Mubadala, Al Jomaih Holding, and Republic.

• Mountain Protocol, a stablecoin issuer, raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Castle Island Ventures and Coinbase Ventures.

Consumer & Media

• Astrocade AI, an AI-powered social gaming platform, raised $12 million in seed funding from AME Cloud Ventures, NVIDIA Ventures, and Venture Reality Fund.

• Whizz, an e-bike subscription platform for last-mile delivery drivers, raised $12 million in Series A funding led by LETA Capital, with participation from Flashpoint VC.

• Particle, an AI news-reader startup, raised $10.9 million in Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Axel Springer.

• Wild Common, a craft agave spirits brand, raised $5 million in Series A funding from HIPstr, the early-stage investment arm of HighPost Capital.

Healthcare

• Alzheon, a Framingham, Mass.-based clinical-stage biotech developing treatments for Alzheimer's, raised $100 million in Series E funding led by Alerce Medical Technology Partners.

• Regard, an AI diagnostics platform, raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Oak HC/FT at a $350 million valuation.

• Canary Speech, an AI-powered voice biomarker startup, raised $13 million in Series A funding led by Cortes Capital, with participation from Sorenson Communications, SMK, and Hackensack Meridian Health.

• Grayce, a social care platform, raised $10.4 million in Series A funding led by Maveron, with participation from BBG Ventures, Correlation Ventures, GingerBread Capital, Alumni Ventures, Visible Ventures, Gaingels, and What If Ventures.

• Arya, a NYC-based holistic sexual wellness platform, raised $7.5 million in seed funding led by Patron and Play Ventures, with participation from At.inc/, and Heracles Capital.

Industrials, Greentech, & Other

• FLO, a North American EV charging network, raised $136 million in Series E funding led by Export Development Canada, with participation from Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Investissement Québec, Business Development Bank of Canada, Energy Impact Partners, and MacKinnon, Bennett & Company.

• Battery Smart, an Indian battery swapping network for electric scooters, raised $65 million in Series B funding led by LeapFrog Investments, with participation from MUFG Bank, Panasonic, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Blume Ventures, and British International Investment.

• Parity, a Toronto-based remote HVAC optimization as a service provider for multifamily buildings and hotels, raised $19 million in Series B funding led by Idealist Capital, with participation from ArcTern Ventures, Wyse Meter Solutions, and RET Ventures.

• ElectronX, a Chicago-based energy exchange, raised $15 million in seed funding led by Innovation Endeavors, with participation from DCVC, Amplo, BoxGroup, and Lightning Capital.

• EvodiaBio, a Danish biotech startup developing sustainable aromas for the food and beverage industry, raised €7 million in new funding from EIFO and The March Group.

• Partners Group raised more than $15 billion for its fifth direct private equity fund and related vehicles.

• Foresite Capital raised $900 million for its sixth early-stage fund focused on precision therapeutics and life sciences infrastructure.

• InTandem Capital Partners raised $715 million for its third healthcare services-focused middle market buyout fund.

• Parquest, a Paris-based private equity firm, raised €414 million for its third middle market buyout fund focused on B2B services and healthcare.

• Vsquared Ventures, a Munich-based deep tech investor, raised €214 million for its second fund.

• Day One Ventures raised $150 million for its third early-stage fund.

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