Brad Meikle

Blackboard Inc, a U.S. software company that provides learning tools for high school and university classrooms, is exploring a sale that it hopes could value it at as much as $3 billion, including debt, people familiar with the matter told Reuters news service.

New Mountain Capital is exiting SNL Financial after four years during which the firm multiplied its investment by more than 6x.

Planet Fitness Inc, known for its “judgment free zone” fitness centers and low prices, is expected to be valued at nearly $1.58 billion in its initial public offering, according to Reuters news service.

McGraw Hill Financial Inc, the parent of the Standard & Poor’s ratings agency, said it would buy financial data and information company SNL Financial LC for about $2.23 billion, according to Reuters news service.

Fundraising for agribusiness funds is poised for another robust year as LPs continue to show appetite for strategies focused on satiating the hunger of a growing population. 

1. Your firm just sold Applegate Farms LLC to Hormel Foods Corp for about $775 million in a deal that closed on July 13. Why did you decide to sell? Applegate Farms is a pioneer in the natural, organic and antibiotic-free meat category. The company had achieved its objectives to ‘change the meat we eat’ […]

Private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg & Co LLC is exploring a sale or initial public offering of government services provider PAE, which could value it at up to $1 billion, including debt, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Stern Partners, a private equity firm with investment experience in the retail industry, plans to acquire Comark, a PE-backed Canadian clothing chain that filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.

China’s move to halt new company listings on its stock markets is offering private equity firms, hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds an opening to fill private companies’ funding needs, paving the way for more M&A activity, Reuters reported.