Shares in Johns Lyng Group rallied sharply on Wednesday, soaring as much as 19.3% to AUD3.03 – marking the company’s strongest intraday performance on record – following the announcement of a takeover approach from Australian private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners (PEP).

VeloBank SA, the Polish retail lender backed by US private equity giant Cerberus Capital Management, is eyeing further consolidation opportunities in Poland’s banking sector following its recent agreement to acquire Citigroup’s local retail banking operations, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Caris Life Sciences, a precision oncology firm backed by Sixth Street and JH Whitney, is targeting a valuation of up to $5.3bn in its upcoming US initial public offering, as appetite for new listings gathers pace amid improving market sentiment, according to a report by Reuters.

Macquarie Asset Management is preparing to divest DIG Airgas, South Korea’s third-largest industrial gas producer, in a transaction that could fetch up to $3.6bn, with a number of global PE firms, including KKR and Brookfield Asset Management, vying for the asset, according to a report by Reuters.

European mid-market private equity firm Inflexion has sold a majority shareholding of premium British skincare brand, Medik8, to L’Oréal Groupe. As part of the transaction, Inflexion will retain a minority shareholding in Medik8.

A syndicate of banks led by Barclays has launched a $1.5bn leveraged loan to finance Silver Lake’s acquisition of a majority stake in Intel’s programmable chip subsidiary, Altera, according to a report by Bloomberg citing a source familiar with the transaction.

Private equity firm Lone Star is nearing a long-anticipated exit from Novo Banco, its Portuguese banking asset, with French lender BPCE and Spain’s CaixaBank emerging as final bidders, according to a report by Bloomberg citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.