Allocations
Blackstone has held the final close of the second vintage of its long-hold private equity strategy, Blackstone Core Equity Partners (BCEP II) with USD8 billion commitments.
Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm focused on the software and technology-enabled services sectors, has completed fundraising for three funds totalling more than USD22.8 billion in capital commitments – Thoma Bravo Fund XIV (USD17.8 billion), Thoma Bravo Discover Fund III (USD3.9 billion), and Thoma Bravo Explore Fund (USD1.1 billion).
Each fund reached its hard-cap and was significantly oversubscribed.
These closings bring Thoma Bravo’s assets under management to more than USD70 billion, and the new funds significantly enhance the firm’s capacity to invest in high quality software and technology companies around the world.
“We are grateful to our investors for their
Theta Lake, the specialist in modern collaboration security and compliance solutions for Cisco Webex, Microsoft Teams, RingCentral, Zoom and more, has raised USD12.7 million in Series A funding, bringing the company’s total funding to USD20 million. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round with participation by Cisco Investments, notable angel investors from the enterprise collaboration and security space, and previous investors Neotribe Ventures, Firebolt Ventures and WestWave Capital. Theta Lake will use the capital to invest in its patented and award-winning product, while increasing its service delivery capabilities for organisations to protect their data and employees while adhering to regulatory compliance requirements
By Joanna Kirby, Managing Director, Time Partners – Private equity relies heavily on manager skill (alpha) with a large divergence between the strongest and weakest performers in a cohort. Studies have shown that it is possible for some investors to effectively navigate this disparate market and consistently add value, through careful fund selection. Robust due diligence processes, both investment and operational, are a critical part of successful fund/manager selection, but how has this changed during the pandemic?
The most obvious impact is from travel restrictions preventing on-site, in-person due diligence meetings. Investors are aware that reviewing track records and strategy
By Pooya Hemami, Healthcare Analyst at Edison Group – Blindess is perhaps not the most obvious opportunity for investors to spot. Even in a world where other pharma investments are being rehabilitated by Covid-19, sight loss remains a relatively small and expert-only corner of the market.
Pagemill Partners, the technology division of Duff & Phelps, has published data revealing a sharp bounce-back in software deal activity in Q3 2020, with 466 transactions recorded between July and September 2020. As boardroom focus shifted away from bracing-for-impact, a combination of strong operating performance and more readily available financing resulted in a surge of activity, with both deal volume and spending reaching levels higher than any other quarter over the last three years.
Large-cap deals also returned in full force over the last quarter, with aggregate deal values almost 90% higher than in Q3 2019. With deals above USD1 billion
OnSite Waste Technologies, a specialist in immediate sterilisation of medical waste, has closed an oversubscribed USD3.5 million Series A funding round.
Palatine Private Equity has completed the sixth investment from its Impact Fund, with the acquisition of a stake in a fast-growing training company which helps individuals return to employment and develop new skills.Palatine’s returns-focused GBP100 million Impact Fund, which invests in profitable businesses making a positive impact on the environment or society, will now support Manchester-based Back2Work Group as it continues its growth plan.
Back2Work specialises in delivering intensive training courses to help the long-term unemployed return to work, retrain or re-skill. It also offers a digital marketing apprenticeship programme and runs on-line training courses for employed people to support
CenterGate Capital’s portfolio company Mid-State Industrial Maintenance (Mid-State) has expanded its service capabilities in the power generation and pulp and paper industries with the acquisition of AZZ SMS (SMS) from AZZ Inc (AZZ).
Private equity firm Grafton Capital has invested GBP7 million into Third Financial, a fast growing, investment platform and software provider. Grafton Capital’s investment takes it to majority ownership of the business, with GBP1.5 million of fresh capital being injected onto the balance sheet. The deal follows previous investment rounds in 2015 (GBP2.5 million), 2016 (GBP1.5 million) and 2019 (GBP1.25 million) to support the expansion of Third Financial’s infrastructure and outsourcing platform, which sits behind many of the UK’s leading wealth managers, IFA networks, family offices and disruptive fintech firms. This next phase will see a focus on accelerating the growth of
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
