Broadfield Brief.

After the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 12 states sued to block the transaction, Platinum Equity’s portfolio company PlayPower abandoned the intended acquisition of BCI Burke, a competing commercial playground equipment maker.

In its October 27 decision, the FTC had said five companies account for 85-90% of the U.S. market for commercial outdoor playground equipment, and combining PlayPower and Burke would have left only four major suppliers with PlayPower controlling more that 30% of the market share. In the agency’s view, smaller manufacturers would not have readily replaced the lost competition because they lack comparable sales networks, product ranges, production capacity, and safety certifications.

This deal was an add-on acquisition in a specialized industrial market, not a multibillion-dollar merger of a type regularly on the radar of regulators. Sponsors pursuing buy-and-build strategies need to be aware that potential competitive overlap can sink even smaller deals.

Source: FTC Statement (October 27, 2026)

U.S. private equity sponsors completed an estimated 1,124 middle-market deals in the third quarter, according to PitchBook’s latest quarterly report. That represents a 24.1% increase from the deal volume in the second quarter and the first quarterly total above 1,000 since early 2024. Deal value increased much less, by approximately 2.5%. Add-on transactions continue to account for roughly two-thirds of the total number of transactions.

Exits tell the other side of the story. Through the third quarter, middle-market exit activity was running about 15% below the 2025 pace.

Source: PitchBook, Q3 2026 U.S. PE Middle Market Report (October 29, 2026)

Ares Capital has agreed to acquire MidCap Financial Investment Corporation, the Apollo-managed public BDC, in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately $2.6 billion. If completed, the combined business would hold more than $31 billion in investments across more than 800 portfolio companies. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and other applicable closing conditions.

The deal would further cement Ares’ position as one of the largest players in private credit.

Source: Ares Capital transaction announcement (October 27, 2026)

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on October 29 that it had closed federal investigations concerning two building-materials transactions after relevant state attorneys general reached divestiture agreements. In the Colas’ acquisition of Suit-Kote, the settlement calls for the sale of four facilities in New York and Pennsylvania. In CRH’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Arcosa, the companies agreed to sell certain facilities in New Jersey.

The DOJ identified competition concerns limited to particular geographic markets and referred the matters to the relevant state authorities. The federal investigations were closed as the remedies resulting from the relevant state authority process addressed those local overlaps. It is a further example of the increasing importance of state attorney generals in the US regulatory landscape.

Source: DOJ announcement (October 29, 2026)

On October 28, the Treasury Department sanctioned 10 individuals and one entity for their role in schemes that had placed North Korean IT workers with legitimate companies. According to the Treasury Department, those workers used false identities and fabricated backgrounds to obtain the jobs. Some gained access to company systems and sensitive information, while payments helped finance North Korea’s government.

For portfolio companies in tech and business services, this presents a practical diligence issue. The safeguards are familiar, but they need to work across employees, independent contractors, and outsourced development teams, as applicable. Companies should be on top of checking identities are checked, approving payment accounts, and on how access to code, data, and internal systems are granted or removed.

Source: U.S. Treasury sanctions release (October 28, 2026)

A valuation dispute in Mudrick Capital Management L.P. v. QuarterNorth Energy Inc. turned on the denominator in a formula. QuarterNorth used a $1.7 billion equity valuation to calculate an adjustment to warrants in connection with declaration of a dividend. The Delaware court accepted the company-wide valuation but found that QuarterNorth had improperly left in-the-money warrants out of the share count.

That error reduced the applicable adjustment owed to the warrant holders. Correcting the denominator lowered the per-share value from $209.79 to $190.93 and resulted in approximately $3 million in expectation damages, plus interest.

When equity rights depend on a per-share value, the treatment of warrants and other convertible instruments can change the economics even if everyone agrees on the valuation. Test the capitalization table and calculations against the actual contract formula before paying a dividend or completing a recapitalization.

Source: Mudrick Capital Management L.P. v. QuarterNorth Energy Inc., Del. Ch (October 29, 2026)

The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed dismissal, for lack of personal jurisdiction, of a suit by the parent of fiber provider Bluepeak, a GI Partners portfolio company, to enforce non-compete and non-solicit covenants against a former vice president, based in Oklahoma, who held about 2% of the management incentive pool, because the only forum-selection clause sat in the Delaware partnership agreement he signed by joinder without seeing it, Oklahoma law governed the clause, and “Oklahoma courts will only enforce a forum-selection clause that the parties specifically negotiated or discussed”. The lesson for management-equity programs: put the forum clause in the grant agreement itself, negotiate it, and check the employee's home-state law before relying on Delaware.

Source: GI DI Rushmore Parent LP v. Stoops, Del. Supr. (October 26, 2026)