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Cranberry Journal

Wednesday, October 21, 2026

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Markets
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  • Dow52,658.82+0.31%
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At the close · Oct 21

Private Equity

Tagged stories

An aerial view of a landfill, with a compactor driving across a broad layer of mixed household waste and bare earth beyond.
Business

EQT Agreed to Buy Cleanaway for A$3.095 a Share, a A$9.3 Billion Deal. Three Days Earlier, the Stock Fell 7.6 Per Cent and the ASX Asked Why.

Cleanaway Waste Management said on Monday 19 October, Sydney time, that it has signed a binding scheme implementation deed under which an EQT Infrastructure vehicle will buy all its shares for A$3.095 each in cash, implying an enterprise value of about A$9.3 billion. The board recommends the deal subject to an independent expert's report. Shareholders vote before the end of February 2027, and FIRB and ACCC clearance are still needed.

By Daniel Okafor  

A corner shop with a dark blue Boots fascia reading Pharmacy and Health, on a street in Saltash, Cornwall.
Business

The Westons Are Buying Boots for $8.9 Billion. An Insurance Group Is Set to Own Half of It.

Wittington Investments, the holding company of Canada's Weston family, agreed on Wednesday to buy Boots from Sycamore Partners and the Pessina family for $8.9 billion including debt. Fairfax Financial, a Toronto insurance and investment group, has agreed to put up as much as $2.3 billion and is expected to own half of the equity. The family gets operational control.

By Margaret Holloway  

Publishers' stands and visitors beneath the arched glass roof of a large exhibition hall.
Business

Informa Is Paying £2.24 Billion for More Trade Shows. It Plans to Separate the Academic Publisher It Has Owned Since 2004.

Informa, the London-listed events and publishing group, agreed on Tuesday to buy Clarion Events from Blackstone for an enterprise value of £2.24 billion, and launched a process to separate Taylor & Francis, its academic publisher. It raised about £940 million by selling new shares at 860p and paused its share buyback to pay for the deal.

By Cory Chamberlain  

A calculator, a pair of glasses and printed charts on a desk.
Business

Two Investment Firms Are Selling the Company That Keeps Private Funds' Books. KKR Is Paying $5.1 Billion for It.

KKR has agreed to buy Gen II Fund Services, which does the accounting, tax and reporting work for more than 275 private investment managers, for an enterprise value of $5.1 billion. The sellers are Hg and General Atlantic, which invested in 2020, along with other minority investors. Gen II says its revenue and earnings have roughly quadrupled since.

By Alison Acosta  

A bag of blood with a drip chamber and tubing hanging from a stand in a clinical setting.
The Long View

McKesson Is Paying $1.4 Billion for Half of Option Care. The Deal Sets Up a Framework for It to Buy the Rest.

Clayton Dubilier & Rice and McKesson agreed on Monday to take Option Care Health, the largest independent home infusion company in the United States, private for $32.05 a share. McKesson is putting in about $1.4 billion for 49 per cent, and the agreement sets out a framework for it to buy the private equity firm's majority later. Lenders have committed more money to the deal than the two buyers have.

By Margaret Holloway  

Empty dark leather booths and tables set for service in a restaurant dining room lined with large potted plants and pendant lamps.
Business

True Food Kitchen Raised $100 Million in 2022. It Entered Bankruptcy With Two Weeks of Cash.

True Food Kitchen, the health-food restaurant chain backed by Oprah Winfrey, filed for Chapter 11 on Sunday and closed 12 of its 46 restaurants. It had about $1.6 million of unrestricted cash, enough for roughly two weeks, and $42.1 million of funded debt, including merchant cash advances. The investor that led its $100 million round in 2022 is now lending it $20 million to stay open while it looks for a buyer.

By Thomas Gutierrez  

An older couple sit on a sofa going through bills and papers on a coffee table, the man holding a phone and the woman a pen.
Money

Florida Says Atlantic Coast Life Is $170 Million Short. South Carolina Says $900 Million of Annuities Unlock This Year.

Florida's insurance regulator suspended Atlantic Coast Life's licence on 30 September, finding that once its investments are valued under state limits the insurer has been short of required surplus since at least September 2025, by $170 million at the end of June. South Carolina, where the company is based, has asked a court to take it over. Its petition says about $900 million of the insurer's annuities reach the end of their surrender-charge periods this year.

By Daniel Okafor  

Rooftop view of apartment buildings and hvac units
Business

The Rollup Comes for the Plumbing Business

Private capital has spent three years buying HVAC, plumbing and electrical contractors at multiples the trades have never seen. The thesis is sound, the integration is harder than the model assumed, and the second wave is arriving at higher prices.

By Cory Chamberlain