AI in Private Equity

• EQT's Motherbrain engine has sourced more than a dozen investments, including Peakon, later bought by Workday for $700 million
• McKinsey research across 471 PE-backed companies found AI-embracing firms carry revenue multiples more than twice those focused solely on productivity
• Mosaic launched Public Company Watchlists, running continuous automated LBO and DCF analyses on a coverage universe
• Sponsor software exits fell 69 percent year over year to $102 billion as AI sorts software businesses by defensibility
• Token costs can reach 5 to 30 percent of AI-enabled product value, pushing portfolio companies toward flexible pricing
• AI Pathfinder's Private Equity AI Strategy Day (London and New York) already has 160+ leaders from 96 firms confirmed

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Deal Activity and M&A

• Bridgepoint acquired a majority stake in Germany's GBA Group as Ardian exited, adding to a TIC platform roster that includes Element Materials Technology
• H.I.G. Capital launched Highground, a €1 billion German residential platform spanning Berlin, Leipzig, and Dresden
• CVC agreed to sell marina operator D-Marin to InfraVia for €1 billion to €1.5 billion, roughly a 5x return on its 2020 purchase price
• Korn Ferry's $1.1 billion acquisition of AMS follows its own research naming the AI Operating Partner the scarcest talent profile in PE
• GW Defense Invest completed its first deal, acquiring TC-Hydraulik Fluid Connectors
• Autonomy Partners launched as a specialist PE firm for Northwestern European defense, aerospace, and security SMEs
• Blackstone paid $2 billion (15x EBITDA) for Citrin Cooperman, part of roughly $50 billion in PE investment into accounting firms over six years

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Value Creation and Portfolio Operations

• ghSMART's HBR research names five capabilities of top PE-backed CEOs: commercial orientation, strategy under pressure, stakeholder influence, forward-looking risk taking, and narrative clarity
• McKinsey's Private Capital and Transformation practices point to AI-enabled insights, predictive decision making, and operational transformation as the new value creation levers
• McKinsey data shows EBITDA margin gains concentrate at roughly six points in the final hold year versus about one point earlier, pointing to an execution capacity constraint
• Exit-ready portfolio companies are defined by documented, verifiable performance rather than value creation effort alone

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Talent and Leadership

• A predictive people diligence framework tracks six signals for whether an executive team can execute the next 18 months of a value creation plan
• PE-backed tech businesses need a combined CPTO when AI is core to the product, but separate CPO and CTO seats when AI is mainly an internal engineering lever
• The Principal role has become the most contested value creation hire, requiring 15 to 20 years of experience and hands-on plan ownership
• PE's CFO wish list is shifting from capital raisers toward finance leaders who personally build AI tools like close and reconciliation agents

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Market Data and Capital Flows

• A Bain webinar poll found roughly 80 percent expect flat-to-modest H2 2026 deal growth after declines from $265 billion (Q4 2025) to $149 billion (Q2 2026)
• Global PE deal value fell to $419.8 billion in Q2, down 22.8 percent quarter over quarter, even as deal count rose 2.2 percent to 5,672
• KKR's North America Fund XIV closed at $23 billion, the largest buyout fund in its history, as the top ten H1 2026 fundraises totaled roughly $129 billion
• Ardian's $30 billion Secondary Fund IX is the largest secondaries fund ever raised, as GP-led deals approach half of all secondaries volume
• Private credit redemption requests as a share of NAV have risen sharply across Apollo, Blackstone, Cliffwater, and HPS since Q3 2025
• Direct lending LBO volume is running roughly 21 percent below last year's pace, with deal count down 17 percent among sponsor-backed companies
• European family offices now allocate 28 percent of a typical €450 million portfolio to PE, with 67 percent co-investing directly alongside GPs

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Thanks to Hamza Khan, Rene Bienek, Ian Gutwinski, Kezia Kho, Romain Bégramian, Mohamad Chahine, Steve Budd, Hugo Toujas, Alessio Lucentini, Andrea Ward, Mario Damasceno, Roumyana Schnettler, Steef Sint Nicolaas, Sasha Orloff, Marla Capozzi, Axel Spamann, Wayne Marhelski, Neha Kabra, Joe Kitson, David Mackey, Paul Press, Dario Furman, Hugh MacArthur, Steven Buibish, Nicola Ebmeyer, Sid Jain, Snorre Kofoed-Hansen, Bruce Richards, Guillaume Kloof, and everyone else who contributed insights to this edition. Find the full list of posts and voices on LinkedIn: