deals

Deals (w/e 2/27/26)

Lee McCabe

03 Mar 2026 — 1 min read

BlackRock GIP and EQT Target Clean Energy Assets from AES

BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners and EQT are circling clean energy assets tied to AES at a moment when renewable valuations have reset hard. After the 2025 drop off, private equity is not retreating. It is re underwriting. The math looks better when rates stabilize and public multiples compress. This is not ESG enthusiasm. It is disciplined infrastructure capital stepping in when sentiment gets weak. Power demand is real, grid capacity is constrained, and someone has to fund the buildout.

Affinius Capital and Vista Hill Take Veris Residential Private in $3.4 Billion Deal

Affinius Capital and Vista Hill are taking Veris Residential private in a 3.4 billion dollar transaction. Public REITs trading below NAV are obvious private equity targets right now, especially when refinancing pressure and rate volatility distort equity pricing. This is straightforward real estate arbitrage. Buy below intrinsic value, fix the capital structure, optimize the portfolio, and wait for public markets to reprice stabilized assets. No theatrics. Just basis and patience.

Kinderhook Industries Acquires Enhabit in $1.1 Billion Healthcare Deal

Kinderhook Industries has agreed to acquire Enhabit in a transaction valued around 1.1 billion dollars, leaning further into home health and post acute care. Demographics are doing most of the heavy lifting here. The operational work is never simple. Reimbursement, staffing, compliance, all require discipline. But the demand curve is structural. This is private equity underwriting inevitability. Aging populations and distributed care models reward scale and process.

KKR Explores Sale of BMC Helix at $1.5 Billion Valuation

KKR is reportedly exploring a sale of BMC Helix at roughly 1.5 billion dollars, signaling that sponsor to sponsor software exits are back in motion. Enterprise software with sticky customers and embedded workflows does not disappear in tougher markets. It just trades hands more quietly. If this moves forward, the underwriting will be about renewal rates, cash flow durability, and margin expansion, not growth headlines.

Brookfield Backs Ori Industries in Radiant Infrastructure Expansion

Brookfield is backing Ori Industries as part of the Radiant infrastructure buildout, reinforcing the thesis that AI driven data infrastructure requires real physical capacity. This is not abstract software. It is land, power, cooling, and long duration capital. Hyperscale demand continues to push compute outward, and private capital is stepping in where public markets hesitate. Infrastructure capital is quietly positioning itself as the backbone of the AI cycle.

News (w/e 2/27/26)

GIP and EQT Close In on $40 Billion AES Take-Private BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners and EQT are in advanced talks to take AES Corp. private in a deal worth roughly $40 billion including debt, which would make it one of the largest infrastructure buyouts ever. The driver is simple

Operating partners need a badge and a gun, not another steering committee invite.

Private equity keeps hiring “value creation” people, then sends them into portfolio companies with zero mandate, zero budget, and the authority level of a polite email. And then everyone acts confused when the plan doesn’t happen. Obvious value creation: We underwrote 300 bps of margin expansion from “procurement synergies.

The easiest way for an agency to look good is to pick a KPI that can’t be audited.

That’s the whole game. You ask for growth. They pick the metric that moves fastest and connects to cash slowest. Suddenly the weekly update is a victory lap because CTR is up. Or CPM is down. Or “engagement” is strong. Or leads are “cheaper”. None of which tells you

Most roll ups don’t fail because of competition.

They fail because integration was treated as a future problem. The pitch always sounds the same. Buy fragmented assets. Centralise back office. Unlock synergies. Scale. What gets skipped is the hard part. How these businesses actually work once they’re stitched together. Different pricing logic. Different sales behaviours. Different tech