Publicly traded PE players marked down their software portfolios in Q1 and directed capital into industries linked to AI.

Volume reached nearly $5 trillion last year, with about 57% from mega-deals—the highest share in a decade.

On a Q4 earnings call, COO Jon Gray heralded the end of an ‘abnormal period’ of low M&A and IPO activity.

Secondaries funds continue to raise record amounts, but not enough to meet the potential supply of deals

The $1.2 trillion asset manager accrued $9.3 billion in realizations from its PE portfolio in Q3, a quarterly high for 2025.

Its $37-billion opportunistic investing business could raise as much as $10 billion in a first fund offering under new leadership.

The PE firm is doubling down on energy assets that power and optimize data centers, acquiring a Pennsylvania gas plant days after taking an efficiency platform public.

Blackstone sets a record in infrastructure secondaries as overall infrastructure-fundraising shifts toward mega funds.

The acquisition, from Gryphon Investors, marks Blackstone’s 12th investment from its latest energy transition fund.

The transaction marks another major secondary buyout as private equity firms lean into sponsor-led exits.

Wesley LePatner, Blackstone’s head of Core+ Real Estate and CEO of BREIT, was killed in the Manhattan office shooting.

The largest listed PE firms—including KKR, Carlyle, Blackstone and Apollo—have been moving to increase their European exposure, driven by economic reforms in the old continent and a strategic shift away from US-centric risk.

Europe, a market where private capital fund LPs have historically been underallocated, is drawing growing interest from investors across the Atlantic.

Major public alternative managers were busy deploying capital in the first quarter, increasing their investment activity by 17% QoQ, as other parts of the market put the brakes on dealmaking.

The transaction gives TXNM an enterprise value of $11.5B as the company focuses on clean energy initiatives and secures long-term capital from Blackstone.

The deal underscores private equity’s appetite for AI-driven capabilities and comes amid a notable increase in Q1 take-private activity.

While strategic acquisitions drove up GP deal count, last year also marked the third consecutive year of decline in GP stake deal flow.

Despite a challenging fundraising environment for energy transition funds in 2024, Blackstone secured a 33% larger fund than its predecessor.