Middle Market Weekly Outlook

Good morning, all. The Wall Street Journal discusses a new trend in the private equity industry: why PE firms are selling stakes in themselves. Prompted by Vista Equity Partners’ sale of a minority stake in itself, a balance sheet boost, new product lines, and deepening investor ties are noted as benefits of a partial sale.

Meanwhile, PE Hub’s Q&A on the state of the private equity industry reveals some interesting trends. Among the insights, PE managers are taking minority stakes, quick fundraising fuels “false demand,” and ESG awareness becomes a prominent concern.

Transactions

• ONCAP buys Chatters Canada
• SBJ buys Armor Express
• Kester Capital exits Briefing Media
• Francisco Partners completes take-private ClickSoftware acquisition
• Praesidian Capital Europe backs Medical Laboratory Bremerhaven
• Vesey Street Capital buys Imedex
• Warburg Pincus to acquire security services firm Universal from Partners Group
• Seacoast Capital recaps Righttime
• Morganthaler Private Equity buys DLH and merges it with Bowles
• Waterland buys Napoleon Games
• Century Park buys Better Life Technology
• MidOcean buys KidKraft
• High Road Capital buys Cali Bamboo
• ACG, Union Square Hospitality invest in Tender Greens
• ArcLight Capital to buy Infigen’s US wind business for $272.5 mln
• Sterling Partners acquires Hoffman Southwest Corp
• CD&R completes Motor Fuel Group Acquisition
• Kayne Anderson commits $300 mln to Oak Ridge Natural Resources

Opinions

• Private equity fundraising climbed in first half despite fewer closings
• Breaking into private equity: how to succeed without an MBA
• Private equity, property investors put Greek investment sprees on ice
• A missing link for many private equity funds: connectivity
• Greater proportion of corporate cash held in banks
• Q&A on the state of the private equity industry
• An income tax on carried interest couldn’t be avoided
• Mid-sized firms struggle overseas
• Regulatory rollback is wrong for financial markets
• Private equity firms primed to target middle market in 2H
• PE deals accounted for nearly half of software M&A so far in 2015
• Private equity is paying up for risky loans that banks can’t touch
• Tech deals expected to flourish even when overall M&A slows
• Lawyers, funds and money in toxic Irish stew
• Portfolio companies strongly appreciate and benefit from value-added services
• How to spot fake M&A– the Twitter edition
• Surge in cash M&A a warning sign for stocks?
• 5 reasons private equity firms sell stakes in themselves
• Independent sponsors take on larger role in mid-market deals
• Don’t expect hold times to keep coming down
• Where to invest? Ranking 120 countries on their private equity attractiveness
• Tech, media, telecom deals hit frenzied pace
• Leveraged loan, high yield bond issuers return for dividend deals in 2Q

This week in history…Enron Corporation inks a deal to acquire British-based Wessex Water PLC. For the sum of $2.2 billion–which was reportedly paid in cash–the electricity and gas titan from Houston, Texas made its first move towards creating a global water subsidiary (1998).