PE Weekly: Law Firms Merge, Portcos Change PE Hands

This week, law firms land steal the focus of M&A activity, with two mergers announced. In other dealmaking news, multiple portfolio companies change hands from one private equity firm to another, with deals reaching healthcare inventory management, computing platform firmware development and beyond. Read more middle-market M&A news below.

Platform Investments

SEVA Backs CPG Media Platform Chicory. Growth equity firm SEVA has acquired a minority stake in Chicory, a contextual commerce media platform for the consumer packaged goods space. A press release said SEVA’s I LP fund invested in the company, marking Chicory’s first external institutional capital investment.

OceanSound Acquires Healthcare Inventory Management Company. Inventory management system provider PAR Excellence Systems, which targets the healthcare sector with supply chain management solutions, has been acquired by private equity firm OceanSound Partners, a press release said. OceanSound acquired the company from its previous owner, Northlane Capital Partners.

Audax Acquires Total PowerGen Solutions. Audax Private Equity, which focuses on the middle market, announced this week its acquisition of Total PowerGen Solutions, a provider of power generation solutions. Audax is acquiring the company from its previous owner, Trivest Partners.

Coalesce Capital Acquires Miller Environmental Group. Coalesce Capital, a private equity firm focused on the business services space, announced its latest acquisition this week. The firm acquired Miller Environmental Group, an environmental services and waste processing company. The investment was made after the company’s previous owner, PE. Firm GenNx360 Capital Partners, exited the business.

Renovus Capital Acquires Government IT Services Provider. Renovus Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on the middle market, announced that it has acquired QualX. The company provides a variety of services to federal government agencies including records and information management, digital transformation and enterprise IT solutions. QualX will use the backing to further build out solutions for its end clients which include the Department of Defense, Treasury Department and others.

Mergers

Troutman Pepper, Locke Lord Merge. Law firms Troutman Pepper and Locke Lord have agreed to merge, creating a new firm dubbed Troutman Pepper Locke, according to a recent press release. The merge will be effective Jan. 1, 2025 and result in a firm that operates 33 offices in the U.S., as well as two in Europe.

Womble Bond Dickinson, Lewis Roca to Combine. Law firms Womble Bond Dickinson and Lewis Roca announced plans to merge operations, a press release said this week. Merged, the resulting law firm will operate 37 offices in the U.S. and U.K. The merger will take effect Jan. 1, 2025.

Add-ons

Kian-Backed Team Air Acquires Best Choice Supply. Team Air Distributing, a wholesale distributor of HVAC equipment and supplies, has acquired Best Choice Supply, an HVAC wholesale distributor, according to a recent press release. Team Air is part of the Kian Capital portfolio; Kian first invested in Team Air in May of 2023.

PPC Enterprises’ IVP Acquires IntegriDATA. Indus Valley Partners (IVP), a software and technology solution provider servicing investment managers, has acquired IntegriDATA, an alternative investment software solution provider, according to a recent announcement. IVP is backed by middle-market private equity firm PPC Enterprises, which holds a minority stake in the company.

Exits

HGGC to Exit Firmware Company AMI. HGGC, a middle-market private equity firm, has announced it reached an agreement to exit AMI, a developer of software and firmware that powers computing platforms. THL Partners will acquire the company. The firms said they expect the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

Middle Market Growth is produced by the Association for Corporate Growth. To learn more about the organization and how to become a member, visit www.acg.org.