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

• A look at Carlyle’s challenged Asia fundraising

• Plus, Mars announces largest deal of 2024

A slog for Carlyle’s latest pan-Asia fund:

Carlyle Group has been forced to delay the final close of its sixth Asia buyout fund, Carlyle Asia Partners VI, and requested an extension from investors. After more than 24 months in the market, the firm has secured around $3 billion in commitments for the vehicle, falling well short of its current $6 billion target.

Even that target is a meaningful discount from the fund's original $8 billion goal set at the start of fundraising in mid-2022, revised downward last year after Carlyle executives acknowledged the new fund was likely to come in below the $6.55 billion raised for its 2018 vintage predecessor.

"Look, our CAP business is – it's really facing some geopolitical headwinds," said John Redett, Carlyle Group CFO and Head of Corporate Strategy, speaking on last week's earnings call.

The fund’s struggles mirror reflect a broader slowdown in private equity fundraising across the region, which has fared worse than even the challenging conditions in the U.S. and Europe. Data from Preqin show that Asia-focused private capital fundraising fell 26 percent year-over-year to just $100 billion in 2023.

A portion of CAP VI's underperformance may also be a result of Carlyle's success elsewhere in the region. The firm's more narrowly focused Japan buyout fund closed with $2.9 billion in May 2023, exceeding its predecessor by nearly 70 percent. According to the firm, robust appetite for Japan-focused strategies has effectively cannibalized investor interest in the broader pan-Asian offering, with limited partners prioritizing allocations to what they feel is the more promising market.

This sentiment isn't exclusive to Carlyle. With less capital available for new buyout allocations, limited partners have become more geographically selective than in years past. Within Asia, this shift has played out through both Japan optimism—ranked the third most attractive developed market in Preqin's 2023 global LP survey—and China pessimism, with growing concerns over the country's economic trajectory failing to offset everpresent regulatory unpredictability.

Carlyle has already told investors that China exposure in the latest Asia fund will be half as much as its predecessor (now around 20 percent of total). Other firms have already adopted similar strategies, and fared better when fundraising: CVC Capital Partners raised $6.8 billion for its sixth Asia fund, which closed in February and was 50 percent larger than 2020’s fifth fund.

Carlyle's Global Private Equity business has seen mixed results through the end of the second quarter. New deal and exit activity have picked up, yet fee revenue is down year-over-year. Management is now guiding toward a flat full-year result for the strategy’s fees, though strength in the firm's real estate business is plugging the gap left by underlying weakness in buyout.

"We do expect a couple vintages of our private equity fund—or our Europe buyout fund and Asia buyout fund—to be smaller than predecessors," said Redett. "Our Asia business is a very important business to us and we're fully committed to it. As to where we end up in CAP VI, I can't really provide you a number."

The firm downsized its Asia buyout team in a round of job cuts late last year, which included the departures of senior dealmakers across Hong Kong and Greater China. It's unclear if that reshuffling was an early response to the current situation, or if there could be more to come.

• Mars agreed to acquire Kellanova (NYSE: K), the snacks business spun out of Kellogg’s last year, for $35.9 billion in cash.

• Blackstone may launch a sale process for Clarion Events and has held preliminary talks with firms including CVC and KKR over the potential £2 billion asset, per Reuters.

• Carlyle Group agreed to acquire Vantive, a kidney care business providing dialysis and organ support therapies, from Baxter International (NYSE: BAX) for $3.8 billion.

• Performance Food Group agreed to acquire food service distributor Cheney Bros for $2.1 billion in cash from the Cheney family and Clayton Dubilier & Rice.

• CVC Capital Partners acquired a stake in Epicor, a manufacturing and distribution software provider, from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, which will maintain an equal ownership position.

• Vista Equity Partners agreed to acquire Jaggaer, a procurement and supply chain software provider, from Cinven.

• H.I.G. Capital acquired Axis Europe, a UK provider of property maintenance services to social housing and local government.

• Blackstone is in talks to acquire a majority stake in Chartis Group, a healthcare advisory business, from Audax Private Equity, for around $1.4 billion.

• WSP Global (TSX: WSP) agreed to acquire Power Engineers, an engineering and environmental consulting firm, for $1.78 billion.

• EQT agreed to acquire a majority stake in AMCS, an Ireland-based sustainability software provider, from Clearlake Capital Group.

• Rheinmetall agreed to acquire Loc Performance Products, a Plymouth, Mich., a defense and agricultural track systems manufacturer, from Carlyle Group for $950 million.

• Allstate (NYSE: ALL) agreed to sell its employer voluntary benefits subsidiaries to StanCorp Financial Group for $2 billion in cash.

• Hearst acquired QGenda, a healthcare workforce management provider, from Francisco Partners.

• Fort Point Capital acquired NewBold Corporation, a Greenville, SC-based provider of managed technology services for quick service restaurants, retail, and warehousing.

• Hadrian acquired Datum Source, a procurement management software platform for the aerospace and defense industry.

• Tilray (Nasdaq: TLRY) agreed to acquire a collection of craft beer brands from Molson Coors (NYSE: TAP).

• Haveli Investments and Bregal Milestone led a majority recapitalization of M-Files, a provider of knowledge work automation solutions.

• Proven Optics, backed by Silversmith Capital Partners and ServiceNow, acquired CloudGenera, a provider of cloud financial optimization solutions.

• ToxStrategies, a portfolio company of Renovus Capital Partners, acquired Suttons Creek, a provider of pharmaceutical product development consulting services.

• DigitalBridge Group (NYSE: DBRG) offered to acquire Jtower, a Japanese telecom infrastructure-sharing company, for $630 million.

• New State Capital Partners acquired the rotating equipment business of Universal Plant Services.

• Pexco, an Odyssey Investment Partners portfolio company, acquired Precise Aerospace Manufacturing, a Yorba Linda-based manufacturer of custom-molded thermoplastic materials for aerospace applications.

• Avenue Sports Fund acquired a minority stake in Ipswich Town Football Club, a newly-promoted Premier League team.

• Rural Healthcare Group, a portfolio company of Kinderhook Industries, agreed to acquire Steward Health Care's physician network for $245 million.

Tech, Vertical SaaS, & Misc. Enterprise

• Kiteworks, a secure content communications platform, raised $456 million in growth funding co-led by Insight Partners and Sixth Street Growth.

• Anthropic, a genAI lab and model developer, raised $450 million in Series C funding led by Spark Capital, with participation from Google, Salesforce Ventures, Sound Ventures, Zoom Ventures, and Menlo Ventures.

• EliseAI, a provider of AI-powered property management tools for landlords, raised $75 million in Series D funding led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from Point72 Private Investments, Divco West, Navitas Capital, and Koch Real Estate Investments.

• Guidewheel, a factory operations platform, raised $31 million in Series B funding led by Decarbonization Partners, with participation from Ecolab, Rethink Impact, GSBackers, Greycroft, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

• Encord, an AI data platform for vision and multimodal, raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Next47, with participation from Y Combinator, CRV, and Crane Venture Partners.

• ITpipes, a pipeline inspection platform, raised $20 million in equity financing co-led by Trilogy Search Partners and Miramar Equity Partners.

• CodeRabbit, an AI-powered code review platform, raised $16 million in Series A funding led by CRV, with participation from Flex Capital and Engineering Capital.

• ArborXR, an extended reality mobile device management platform, raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Mercury Fund and Cortado Ventures, with participation from Impact Venture Capital and Lewis & Clark Ventures.

• Spline, a web-based 3D design platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Third Point Ventures, with participation from Gradient Ventures, Y Combinator, and Firestreak.

Fintech

• Setpoint, a credit industry infrastructure provider, raised $31 million in Series B funding led by 645 Ventures, with strategic investments from Citi and Wells Fargo, and participation from Andreessen Horowitz, NextView Ventures, Floating Point, Fifth Wall, Eltura Ventures, and Outrunner Capital.

• Capitalize, a retirement assets transfer platform, raised $19 million in Series B funding led by RRE Ventures, with participation from Canapi Ventures, Bling Capital, and Industry Ventures.

• Skydo, a cross-border SME payments platform, raised $5 million in pre-Series A funding led by Elevation Capital.

Consumer & Media

• FRVR, a Lisbon-based game creation and distribution platform, raised $12.7 million in new funding led by Iberis Capital, with participation from Indico Capital Partners, Lince Capital, and Hiro Capital.

• VoyceMe, a manga and webtoon creator platform, raised $10 million in seed funding led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from Torch Capital, Red Sea Ventures, and Clara Vista Partners.

• PLAIO, a decision support platform for pharmaceutical supply chain planning, raised €4.3 million in new funding led by Iðunn, with participation from Frumtak Ventures.

Healthcare

• PayZen, a healthcare payment platform, raised $32 million in Series B funding led by NEA, with participation from 7wireVentures, SignalFire, and Viola Ventures, as well as a $200 million credit facility from Viola Credit.

• 4baseCare, a precision oncology startup, raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Yali Capital.

• Kano Therapeutics, a biotech developing single-stranded DNA for gene insertions, raised $5 million in seed funding co-led by The Engine Ventures and VSquared Ventures, with participation from Taihill Venture and Metaplanet.

• Antler raised $72 million for its second Southeast Asia venture fund.

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