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Good morning, {{first_name}}! This week we're covering private secondaries finding their momentum once again, Baldwin Group $7.7B investment on patient capital, and how The Fed stopping the tightening does not really affect PE.
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PRIVATE CREDIT CORNER
Private Credit Secondaries Find Their Moment
Private credit secondaries are moving from niche liquidity tool to institutional strategy. Transaction volume reached $20B in 2025, up 83.5% from 2024 and representing a 52.8% CAGR since 2020. GP led deals alone reached $12B, versus $8B for LP led transactions.
The supply story matters as much as the growth. Slower repayments, portfolio rebalancing, and liquidity needs are pushing more seasoned credit assets into the secondary market. Yet annual secondary volume remains below 1% of the broader private credit market, compared with 2% to 3% in private equity. State Street estimates volumes could exceed $50B within the next two to three years.
For buyers, the opportunity is less about simply purchasing loans at discounts and more about gaining seasoned exposure, earlier cash flows, and greater visibility into underlying credit quality.
Bottom line: Private credit secondaries are becoming a liquidity market and an underwriting market at the same time. The edge will belong to managers that can price both correctly. (More)
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DEAL OF THE WEEK
Baldwin’s $7.7 Billion Bet on Patient Capital
The Baldwin Group is going private in a $7.7 billion deal led by Sequence Holdings and Michael Dell’s DFO Management, handing shareholders $32.50 per share, an 88% premium to Baldwin’s unaffected price.
The more interesting number is the multiple. The buyers are paying roughly 20 times trailing adjusted EBITDA of $396 million, while assuming or refinancing about $3.1 billion of net debt. That is a premium valuation for an insurance distributor, but the structure explains part of the bet.
Sequence and DFO bring permanent and family capital without a traditional fund exit clock. Baldwin employees can also roll equity into the private company, preserving meaningful ownership.
The thesis is less about financial engineering and more about giving management time and capital to invest aggressively in technology and AI.
For dealmakers, Baldwin is a useful signal: patient capital can compete for expensive assets when the underwriting case depends on transformation that may take years to monetize. (More)
HEADLINE OF THE WEEK
5% Treasury Yields: The Fed Can Pause, But PE Still Pays
The Fed may be approaching a pause, but private equity’s bigger problem is sitting further out on the curve. The 10 year Treasury yield has climbed roughly 120 basis points in 2026, recently touching 5.34%, its highest level since 2002. AI related corporate borrowing, heavier Treasury issuance, inflation concerns, and geopolitical risk are helping keep long term yields elevated even as expectations around Fed policy soften.
That changes the PE rate thesis. Sponsors have spent years waiting for monetary easing to reopen the financing and exit machines. But if long term yields remain structurally high, a Fed pause alone will not bring back cheap leverage or the valuation multiples that came with it.
For deal teams, the adjustment is increasingly structural. Underwriting has to work with more expensive debt, less generous leverage, and less help from multiple expansion.
Bottom line: The Fed may stop tightening. PE’s cost of capital may not get the memo. (More)
IMPORTANT DEALS THIS WEEK
CD&R + McKesson → Option Care Health | ~$5.8B EV
CD&R (51%) and McKesson (49%) agreed to take Option Care Health private for $32.05/share. Option Care is a home and alternate-site infusion provider. Read more
KKR → Gen II Fund Services | ~$5.1B EV
KKR agreed to acquire Gen II from Hg and General Atlantic. Gen II is a fund administrator for private markets, and KKR is buying it through its Core PE strategy. Read more
Informa → Clarion Events | ~$3.0B EV (£2.2B)
Informa agreed to acquire Blackstone-backed Clarion, adding a B2B events portfolio of 100+ brands at 11.1x 2027E EBITDA. Read more
TPG + Hong Leong → Columbia Asia | Undisclosed
TPG and Hong Leong Group signed an agreement to acquire Columbia Pacific's Columbia Asia hospital network in Southeast Asia. Read more
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