PE Today: Huntington Makes M&A Advisory Buy, Morgan Stanley Fuels Northhaven Dealmaking

Read the top headlines from Wednesday, March 2, 2022 below:

Huntington Bancshares Boosts Mid-Market M&A Advisory Footprint with Acquisition

Bank holding company Huntington Bancshares is broadening its presence in the middle market through its agreed-upon acquisition of Capstone Partners, the firm said in a press release Wednesday (March 2). Capstone is a middle-market advisory company specializing in M&A, restructuring and financial advisory.

Huntington co-president Scott Kleinman said in a press release that the takeover supports its capital markets strategy “and better positions Huntington to serve the full range of needs of middle-market clients within our footprint,” adding that Capstone offers “unique industry insights” for the middle-market investment banking arena. The firms said they expect to close the deal in the second quarter of this year.

Morgan Stanley Capital Partners Raises $2 Billion For North Haven Dealmaking

Morgan Stanley’s private equity unit, Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, announced Wednesday that it raised $2 billion for family office-backed investment group North Haven Capital Partners VII.  A press release said the fundraise exceeded its initial goal and is more than 40 percent larger than North Haven’s sixth fund.

“Our multiyear industry evaluations and deep sector focus has resulted in an industry expertise, proprietary deal flow and operational value-add that we believe is truly unmatched in the middle market,” said Morgan Stanley Capital Partners head Aaron Sack in a statement. The firm added that the fundraise was led by a global group of institutional investors.

North Haven Capital Partners VII will focus on middle-market business services, education, healthcare, consumer and industrial industries. Its most recent investment saw the acquisition of SpendMend.

Middle-Market Software Skirts Public Valuation Decline, Finds Axial

M&A platform Axial has released new insights on the small and middle-market software M&A landscape with the release of its annual Software Top 50, and among the findings includes lower-middle-market software firms avoiding the trend of declining valuations among publicly traded software companies.

“Over 50% of Nasdaq [software] companies are down 40% or more off their highs,” Axial CEO and founder Peter Lehrman said in a statement. “We’re not seeing that in the lower middle market, where 2022 M&A is off to a brisk pace, with near-record investor interest and plenty of ready capital available to fund deals.”

Axial noted that software M&A deals are leading the continued strengthen across technology dealmaking seen in 2021 and into 2022.

Related Content: Evolving Considerations Around Technology M&A