Welcome to this week’s edition of The Private Capital Compass, brought to you by Private Capital Global (PCG), a Sparc Group company. Each week we distill the most relevant market developments, strategic insights, and value-creation trends shaping private equity and portfolio operations.

In this edition, we explore how healthcare buyouts are navigating a shifting macro environment, why policy uncertainty threatens ESG-linked infrastructure investments, and how modernizing due diligence is becoming a competitive advantage for forward-thinking funds. 

We also spotlight GTCR’s acquisition of Innovative Systems, assess how PE is reshaping NFL franchise valuations ahead of the new season, and take a deep dive into quick-win technology interventions that can unlock hidden efficiency in legacy operations. 

Whether you’re an operating partner, deal team member, or portfolio executive, the goal is the same: equip you with practical insights that sharpen decision-making and accelerate value creation. Enjoy the newsletter!

Compass Points

Key insights at a glance:

• Healthcare Buyouts Show Resilience Despite Early 2025 Dip Global healthcare buyout activity in the first half of 2025 showed mixed momentum—deal value slipped slightly below 2024 levels on an annualized basis, with the sharpest declines in medical technology and biopharma, yet overall activity still outpaced the first half of last year. Regional performance diverged: North America cooled, Asia-Pacific saw strength in India’s major provider deals and Japanese carve-outs but slowed elsewhere, while Europe remained steady over six consecutive quarters. A bright spot has been healthcare IT, where transactions surged thanks to high-value “gem” assets, investor preference for businesses less exposed to policy risk, and the growing role of artificial intelligence. Looking ahead, optimism is warranted for Q3, with large deals already moving, delayed processes expected to return, and significant dry powder waiting to be deployed.

• Policy Uncertainty Puts PE’s ESG and Infrastructure Bets at Risk Private equity’s growing role in renewable infrastructure highlights both the promise and the peril of ESG-driven investing. Recent federal intervention halting U.S. offshore wind projects underscores how political shifts can destabilize long-term infrastructure commitments. While global renewable energy investment hit record highs in early 2025, U.S. deal flow fell sharply, signaling investor hesitation amid regulatory volatility. For PE firms, which increasingly deploy capital into wind, solar, EV charging, and other energy transition assets, the lesson is clear: execution risk now extends beyond project economics to policy reliability. Infrastructure investing requires confidence in government commitments, yet unpredictability threatens both returns and the momentum behind ESG initiatives. 

• Why Family Offices Must Strengthen Cyber Defenses Now Family offices, which manage the wealth of ultra-high-net-worth families, are becoming prime targets for increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. With assets often exceeding billions and operations that may lack enterprise-level security, these firms face risks ranging from deepfake-driven fraud to vulnerabilities in digital asset management. A recent surge in family office growth has amplified exposure, with nearly half reporting cyberattacks in the past two years. Experts warn that protecting financial assets, sensitive data, and family members themselves demands more than reactive measures; it requires proactive cyber resilience, including strong verification protocols, robust incident response plans, and specialized digital asset safeguards.

• Modernizing Due Diligence: From Validation to Value Creation Private equity firms are rethinking how they approach due diligence, shifting from static validation to dynamic, execution-oriented strategies. Gone are the days when diligence meant reviewing market size reports and broad growth projections. Today, leading firms are harnessing real-time data, AI-driven analytics, and customer-level insights to uncover hidden risks and accelerate value creation. According to recent McKinsey and Deloitte research, tools like automated data gathering, online sentiment tracking, and AI-powered forecasting are enabling deal teams to move from grunt work to strategic synthesis, while embedding operational experts early ensures findings translate directly into 100-day plans.

• Private Equity Lifts NFL Team Values Ahead of New Season A year after the NFL opened its doors to private equity, the results are already reshaping the league’s financial landscape. Despite only a handful of transactions with Ares investing in the Miami Dolphins and Arctos taking stakes in the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers, the impact has been undeniable: average franchise values have surged 20% in just twelve months. The league’s restrictive rules, requiring minimum 3% stakes and six-year holds, have kept activity limited, but they’ve also fueled confidence that PE capital can bring resources and discipline without undermining the NFL’s unique ownership culture. With firms like Carlyle and Sixth Street still waiting on the sidelines, analysts expect more activity in the coming year.

Deep Dive: Technology as a Value Lever: Unlocking Efficiency in Legacy Operations

For many portfolio companies, “digital transformation” sounds like a multi-year, high-cost initiative with uncertain payback. But private equity ownership windows demand faster results. The real opportunity lies in quick-win technology interventions: targeted automation, workflow tools, and cloud migration that deliver measurable EBITDA impact in 6–18 months without heavy capital outlay.

Quick Wins That Matter

Rather than overhauling systems, operating partners can focus on incremental solutions with clear ROI. Off-the-shelf robotic process automation can streamline invoice processing and HR onboarding, cutting labor costs significantly. Cloud migration of collaboration platforms and data storage reduces IT spend while improving security. Workflow tools like low-code apps can eliminate bottlenecks in ticketing or field service dispatch, driving immediate efficiency. These solutions are subscription-based, easy to pilot, and avoid the disruption of large-scale IT projects.

Operating Partners as Catalysts

The real challenge is not technological availability but organizational adoption. Legacy companies often lack the internal bandwidth, incentives, or digital fluency to identify and implement these quick wins. This is where operating partners and portfolio value creation teams play a decisive role.

A best-practice approach includes:

1. Rapid Diagnostic: Within the first 100 days, conduct a “tech efficiency audit” to identify top manual pain points and IT cost drivers.

2. Prioritization by ROI: Focus on interventions with a clear payback period under 18 months and minimal disruption to ongoing operations.

3. Change Management Support: Ensure that management teams are not overwhelmed—frame these as operational enablers, not IT projects.

4. Execution Muscle: Where necessary, bring in specialized third parties or PE ops teams to implement tools quickly, avoiding drawn-out vendor evaluations.

By acting as catalysts, operating partners can help management teams embrace solutions that they might otherwise defer indefinitely.

Real-World Examples

A business services provider cut finance costs by 15% and reduced days sales outstanding by 12 days by automating billing. A mid-market manufacturer avoided costly server upgrades by migrating workloads to the cloud, cutting IT expenses by 25% while enhancing cybersecurity. These aren’t flashy “transformations,” but they deliver the tangible EBITDA impact LPs expect in today’s cost-conscious environment.

Why Now?

Acting now is critical because the current environment leaves little room for inefficiency: higher interest rates have raised the cost of capital, exit timelines are tightening, and LPs are demanding visible operational improvements earlier in the hold period.

Deal Spotlight: GTCR Acquires Innovative Systems from Alpine Investors

Transaction:  GTCR, a Chicago-based private equity firm, has acquired Innovative Systems, a provider of mission-critical enterprise software for regional broadband providers, from Alpine Investors. As part of the transaction, GTCR has partnered with seasoned technology executive Scott Alcott, former CIO of Comcast, who has been appointed CEO to lead the company into its next phase of growth. Founded in 1998, Innovative Systems delivers an integrated suite of OSS/BSS capabilities, payments and bill processing, and hardware/software solutions to broadband, utility, cooperative, and municipal providers nationwide.

Why it Matters: This acquisition reflects the ongoing consolidation of vertical market software, particularly platforms that address complex operational needs in niche but essential industries. Broadband providers face mounting pressure to modernize billing, payments, and network operations while maintaining lean cost structures. Innovative Systems’ integrated platform directly addresses this need, positioning it as a mission-critical partner for its customers.

GTCR’s move also underscores the growing convergence between telecommunications infrastructure and fintech solutions. By combining billing and OSS/BSS capabilities with payments processing, Innovative Systems offers a single platform that reduces friction, lowers operating costs, and enhances customer experiences. This integration mirrors broader market momentum toward embedding financial services into software ecosystems.

The deal reflects the increased role of secondaries in the current market. With many funds managing extended hold periods and LPs seeking liquidity, sponsor-to-sponsor transactions like this one have become a vital release valve. Alpine Investors’ exit of Innovative Systems to GTCR is emblematic of this trend, as high-quality, mission-critical assets continue to attract premium valuations even when primary deal flow is uneven.

Reinventing diligence today means treating it as a launchpad for growth rather than a backward-looking validation exercise. The best operators are moving beyond static market reports and outdated assumptions to focus on real-time insights, customer behavior, and the operational levers that matter most in the first 100 days. Instead of asking only “Is this a good deal?”, leading firms now probe deeper: Which customer segments are truly sticky? Where is churn quietly eroding value? Which pricing or cross-sell levers can we activate immediately post-close?

The tools to answer these questions have never been more accessible. AI-powered forecasting, automated competitor intelligence, and digital sentiment monitoring provide granular visibility into risks and opportunities that traditional diligence misses. Pairing these analytics with frontline customer conversations and lifetime value analysis offers a multidimensional view of revenue durability. This blend of quantitative and qualitative diligence transforms insights into actionable priorities, from pricing adjustments to upsell campaigns to focused efficiency plays.

The call to action for operating partners is clear: embed operational thinking into diligence from day one. Bring portfolio operations teams into the process early, align diligence streams with 100-day execution priorities, and treat every insight as either a lever for growth or a signal for risk mitigation. By doing so, firms shift diligence from a static assessment into a strategic weapon—one that accelerates execution, mitigates risks earlier, and consistently delivers superior returns in a competitive, high-cost environment..

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

Thank you for reading this week’s edition of The Private Capital Compass. Execution speed, sharper diligence, and practical technology adoption are no longer optional.

We hope this edition has given you both perspective and actionable ideas to put into practice across your portfolios. We look forward to continuing the conversation and sharing insights that help you drive impact.