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

• A look at Vista’s latest Finastra sale efforts

• Plus, Janus Henderson purchases Victory Park

Vista tries again:

Vista Equity Partners is again considering potential options for Finastra, a fintech investment that is now well into its second decade as part of the firm’s portfolio. This time, Vista is preparing to sell Finastra's treasury and capital markets (TCM) business, picking back up similar plans that had been shelved in 2021.

Bloomberg reports that Vista has held preliminary discussions with advisers about a sale process that could launch later this year. Valuation expectations are said to be at least $2 billion, or around 5.0x on the roughly $400 million of 2023 revenue generated by the TCM business. For context, Finastra posted total 2023 revenue of around $1.85 billion.

The TCM unit, which provides software for financial institutions to manage treasury operations, trading, and risk, could attract interest from a range of potential buyers, including other financial software providers, stock exchanges, and financial institutions looking to bolster internal tech capabilities.

As a whole, Finastra has seen mixed results in recent years, hit by both increased market competition and a complex transition from its legacy product offerings to new cloud-based implementations. Within TCM specifically, Finastra now faces off against a host of established rivals, including ION Group, Murex, and FIS. The combined business' revenue has been flat-to-down since 2019, when Vista hired Goldman Sachs to gauge market interest for a 50 percent stake sale, though the process was halted at the start of the pandemic.

Vista formed Finastra in 2017 through the merger of D+H Corp., a Canadian payments processor it purchased for $3.6 billion, and Misys, a capital markets business which Vista had acquired in 2012, tried to IPO in 2016, and then decided to hold after running up against public markets volatility.

Following the abandoned Goldman-led stake sale, Vista next tried in 2021 to sell off both the TCM business and the company's banking software division. That process stalled as well, which pushed the firm into a 2023 refinancing effort ahead of an upcoming debt maturity.

Last summer's attempt at a $6 billion private credit refinancing—which would've been the largest ever—faced pushback from lenders, who had particular trouble getting comfortable with the $1.5 - $2 billion second-lien portion of the proposal. According to filings, Finastra's net leverage as of May 2023 was 9.97x, excluding any additional credit agreement addbacks.

With middling performance, hesitant lenders, and a compressed timeline before the 2024 maturity, Vista agreed to a concession in which the firm contributed $1 billion in new money through a preferred equity investment (with liquidity provided by a Goldman Sachs-led NAV loan), which was enough to secure a $4.8 billion package from a group of lenders including Blue Owl, Ares, Oak Hill, HPS, Oaktree, and Elliott.

Vista will be hoping that the current attempt at Finastra-related dealmaking comes with fewer headaches than its prior efforts.

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• Ares Management is weighing an offer for Form Technologies, a Partners Group-owned contract manufacturer for precision components, per Bloomberg.

• Brookfield has hired Barrenjoey and Morgan Stanley to lead the sale of Aveo, an Australian retirement village.

• ADQ acquired a minority stake in Sotheby's, an auction house for fine arts and luxury goods, for around $1 billion.

• Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS) agreed to acquire a 14.9 percent stake in KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) for $2.8 billion.

• Janus Henderson Group (NYSE: JHG) agreed to acquire a majority stake in Victory Park Capital Advisors, a private credit manager with $6 billion in assets under management focused on asset-backed lending.

• Carlyle Group, Temasek-backed Keppel Corp. and Gaw Capital Partners, and IMM Private Equity are the three remaining bidders for Ecorbit Co., South Korea’s largest landfill business.

• Lindsay Goldberg agreed to acquire a controlling interest in food service supplier Golden State Foods.

• Tourmaline Oil Corp. (TSX: TOU) agreed to acquire Crew Energy (TSX: CR), a natural gas producer in northeast British Columbia, for C$1.3 billion in an all-stock deal.

• A consortium of Vauban Infrastructure Partners, EDF Invest, and MEAG agreed to acquire Cellnex Telecom's 4,600-site Austrian business for €803 million.

• Arcadea Group invested in PICit, a Danish provider of port, rail, and intermodal logistics management software.

• Crown Laboratories agreed to acquire Revance Therapeutics (Nasdaq: RVNC), a manufacturer of anti-wrinkle injections, including Daxxify, for $924 million in an all-cash deal.

• Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) agreed to acquire CN201, an investigational bispecific antibody for B cell-associated diseases, from Curon Biopharmaceutical for $700 million upfront plus up to $600 million in potential milestones.

Tech, Vertical SaaS, & Misc. Enterprise

• DevRev, a customer support and product development platform, raised $100.8 million in Series A funding from Khosla Ventures, Mayfield Fund, and Param Hansa Values.

• Anysphere, an AI-powered coding assistant, raised $60 million in Series A funding co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital, with participation from OpenAI Startup Fund.

Fintech

• Conduit, a B2B cross-border payments platform, raised $6 million in seed extension funding led by Helios Digital Ventures.

Healthcare

• Halda Therapeutics, a biotech developing RIPTAC cancer therapies, raised $126 million in Series B funding from Deep Track Capital, Frazier Life Sciences, RA Capital Management, Vida Ventures, Boxer Capital, Taiho Ventures, Canaan Partners, Access Biotechnology, Elm Street Ventures, and Connecticut Innovations.

• Amulet, a food allergen detection startup, raised $5.8 million in Series A funding led by HealthX Ventures, with participation from Incite Ventures, AllerFund, Mendota Venture Capital, and Great Oaks Venture Capital.

Industrials, Greentech, & Other

• Gaussion, a UCL spinout developing ultrafast battery charging tech, raised £10.9 million in Series A funding led by Autotech Ventures, with participation from BGF and UCL Technology Fund.

• Balderton Capital raised $1.3 billion across two new funds: a $615 million Early Stage Fund IX and a $685 million Growth Fund II.

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