(Bloomberg) — Ultra-rich individuals and families worth more than $150 billion are helping drive a resurgence in private equity buyouts, providing capital for some of the year’s biggest acquisitions to overcome a tough dealmaking environment. Wealthy clans that built their fortunes in industries from children’s toys to household boilers have been co-investors on nearly $20 billion of listed company takeovers this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. They’ve made a mark on Wall Street as go-to sources of capital for investment firms like KKR & Co.
and Silver Lake, helping them get acquisitions over the line at a time when borrowed money remains expensive. Germany’s Viessmann family, flush with cash after a major divestment, teamed up with KKR for its $3 billion acquisition of renewable energy firm Encavis AG announced in March. The century-old dynasty has an estimated net worth of $13.
7 billion after completing the sale of their heating and cooling business to Carrier Global Corp. in January, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Meanwhile, Michael Dell’s family office partnered with Silver Lake on the biggest private equity buyout this year, a $13 billion deal for talent agency Endeavor Group Holdings Inc.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management closed its purchase of Norwegian e-learning platform Kahoot! ASA in January with funding from Denmark’s Kirk Kristiansen dynasty, the owners of Lego Group. In April, Morgan Stanley’s infrastructure arm agreed.