Top private equity news of the week

Bain Capital has partnered with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. to launch a new European lending platform with up to €1.5bn available for corporate borrowers across Europe and the UK, according to Bloomberg.

The vehicle will focus on opportunities in the broadly syndicated loan market and aims to finance private equity-backed companies. The platform will be funded through SMBC’s balance sheet and equity from Bain Capital’s special situations franchise, with no new capital raised. Both firms will share governance rights.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has acquired a previously undisclosed minority stake of about 8% in the Aston Martin Formula 1 team, reinforcing the Gulf’s accelerating push into elite global sports assets.

The stake is held through AMR GP Holdings, according to filings with Companies House cited in a Bloomberg report.

The investment adds to Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll’s broader fundraising efforts, which have included selling stakes to private equity firms such as Arctos Partners. Neither PIF nor Aston Martin commented on the holding. The sovereign fund also owns a small separate stake in Aston Martin Lagonda, the listed carmaker.

Blue Owl Capital has secured $1.7bn for its new digital infrastructure vehicle, Blue Owl Digital Infrastructure Trust, marking another major step in the firm’s rapid expansion across the data centre market, Bloomberg reports.

The non-traded REIT held its first close and began operations on 1 December.

As part of the launch, the trust acquired interests in 11 US data centres from Blue Owl affiliates in a deal valued at about $1.5bn net of assumed debt. The sites are mostly leased to investment-grade and hyperscale tenants, underscoring the growing institutional appetite for digital infrastructure backed by long-term creditworthy customers.