Welcome to the next edition of The Private Capital Compass, brought to you by Private Capital Global. We hope this edition of The Private Capital Compass provides the timely insights and perspective you need to lead with confidence in today’s evolving landscape.

This week, we spotlight five key stories across private investments, curated to keep you sharp in a landscape that’s long on noise and short on clarity. From strategy shifts to macro signals, each story is selected to inform your decision-making without slowing you down.

In this edition, PCG unpacks the evolving role of private capital across sectors—from the accelerating interest in MedTech and infrastructure, to the shifting dynamics of GP-led secondaries and global exit strategies. We explore how institutional appetite is being recalibrated in response to economic signals, and why private equity is finding both challenges and opportunities in mature and undervalued markets like the UK. At the core of this issue, we take a closer look at how artificial intelligence is transforming the value creation process, emerging not just as a back-office tool but a front-line advantage for sponsors focused on operational excellence.

Compass Points

Key insights at a glance

• Healthcare Heat-Up: Investor appetite for MedTech is intensifying, but deal teams are pivoting toward later-stage and cash-generative assets amid regulatory bottlenecks.

• Historic Exit Sets New Benchmark: The $4.8B sale by a Midwest PE firm this month marks the largest 2025 exit to date, underscoring the strength of operational turnaround stories.

• Secondaries Shift: As liquidity pressures rise, GP-led secondaries are being embraced as a strategic play to retain upside.

• Global Infrastructure Tailwinds: With public infrastructure gaps widening, private capital is being actively courted in both OECD and emerging markets.

• UK PE Sentiment Diverges: London’s M&A scene is increasingly dominated by PE buyers, as undervaluation continues to attract global sponsors.

Market Pulse

• Equities: S&P 500 (SPY) at 610.45 (+0.55%); Dow Jones (DIA) at 432.62 (+0.64%)

• Commodities: Brent crude at $76.20/barrel; USO ETF at 74.42 (+1.51%)

• Deal Flow: Q2 private equity deal volume shows signs of slowing compared to Q1, amid macroeconomic headwinds.

Deep Dive: Developing An AI Value Creation Playbook

The New Frontier of Operational Alpha

AI is becoming a fundamental capability that top-performing general partners are embedding across the investment lifecycle. From sourcing and underwriting to post-close performance management, AI is shifting how private equity defines and delivers alpha.

For sophisticated sponsors, AI is becoming a strategic operating system. It allows firms to see deeper, move faster, and act with greater precision. Portfolio companies across sectors are already realizing the benefits. In industrial businesses, predictive maintenance algorithms are optimizing equipment uptime and preserving EBITDA margins. These tools analyze vast sets of operating data to anticipate breakdowns before they happen, reducing costly downtime and extending asset lifespans.

AI is also upending the front end of the investment process. Generative AI platforms are streamlining due diligence by parsing thousands of documents in minutes, flagging anomalies, extracting critical KPIs, and identifying patterns across data rooms that would otherwise be overlooked. Investment professionals are also using AI to build dynamic financial models that simulate thousands of macroeconomic and sector-specific scenarios. This capability enables better-informed decisions and tighter risk management in increasingly complex market conditions.

Perhaps most importantly, AI is enabling continuous portfolio oversight. Advanced dashboards powered by machine learning offer real-time monitoring of performance metrics and automatically flag deviations or inefficiencies. These systems empower GPs to make faster, data-driven interventions which help to bridge the gap between board-level strategy and day-to-day execution.

Yet the opportunity comes with challenges. Data privacy and regulatory constraints remain front of mind, especially in sectors like healthcare and financial services. Firms must develop robust governance protocols to ensure AI deployment complies with evolving standards. Transparency is another hurdle as opaque AI systems can undermine trust and complicate audits. As a result, leading firms are prioritizing explainable models that provide visibility into how decisions are made.

Beyond the technical, change management is often the largest barrier. Embedding AI into investment and operating teams requires a cultural shift. Firms that treat AI as a plug-and-play tool often struggle with adoption and impact. Those who pair investment in technology with training, cross-functional integration, and leadership alignment are seeing more durable returns.

This week, Meta’s announcement of a potential $29 billion partnership with private equity firms to fund AI data center infrastructure highlights the scale of opportunity now emerging at the intersection of private capital and advanced technology. As reported by AInvest, the deal represents one of the largest efforts to date to pair institutional capital with AI infrastructure, underscoring how integral private equity will be in shaping the next wave of innovation and economic value creation.

The private equity firms that will lead over the next decade are already investing in these capabilities, building proprietary data assets, hiring multidisciplinary teams, and creating processes that can evolve with the pace of innovation. In a market where operational alpha is no longer optional, AI is the lever that separates incremental gain from transformative value.

Deal Spotlight: GTCR Defies the Dealmaking Slowdown with $24B Worldpay Exit

Transaction:
GTCR, a mid-market private equity firm based in Chicago, executed the largest private equity exit of 2025 with the $24.25 billion sale of Worldpay to Global Payments. The deal, announced in April and expected to close in the first half of 2026, marks a standout transaction in an otherwise sluggish M&A environment. GTCR initially acquired a 55% stake in Worldpay from FIS at an $18.5 billion valuation in July 2023 and exited less than two years later—doubling its equity investment during a period when most firms are extending holding periods beyond six years.

Why it matters:
In a year where liquidity remains tight and many GPs are struggling to find quality exits, GTCR’s ability to close a headline-grabbing deal demonstrates the ongoing viability of sharp execution and timely positioning. Notably, GTCR achieved this exit while continuing to deploy and recycle capital actively—having also sold AssuredPartners for $13.45 billion in late 2024, and announcing the divestiture of two other portfolio companies, Antylia Scientific and Itel, for over $1 billion each in May 2025.

Trend signal:
This transaction reinforces a growing bifurcation in the private equity market: well-established, operationally focused firms with a mid-market heritage are proving they can deliver oversized exits, even as industry-wide holding periods and dry powder levels hit record highs. GTCR’s recent streak also signals renewed interest in the payments sector and sponsor-to-strategic exits, where well-timed positioning and credible buyers remain a recipe for success.

Sharpening Strategy in an AI-Enabled Era

As we move into Q3, the imperative for differentiated value creation is louder than ever. If you're not yet deploying AI across your portfolio, now is the time to evaluate where automation, intelligence, and speed can give you a competitive edge.

Here are some things to think about as you implement and utilize AI to its full potential:

• Audit your portfolio’s AI-readiness: Identify high-impact use cases across ops, finance, and GTM functions.

• Partner with domain-specific AI providers: Focus on tailored solutions over generic platforms.

• Upskill your ops team: Internal capability is the linchpin for durable impact.

Opening & Closing Remarks from Erik Boender, Vice President & COO, Private Capital Global (a Sparc Group company)

Thank you for reading this week’s Private Capital Compass. At Private Capital Global, a Sparc Group company, we’re committed to supporting your success with actionable insights and strategic perspective. If you’d like to discuss any of these topics further, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Here’s to navigating the road ahead together! Wishing you a safe and joyful Fourth of July!