Discovery Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA), the owner of the Food Network and HGTV, has acquired Golf Digest from Condé Nast. The deal will expand Discovery's golf coverage that includes the PGA Tour, European Tour, Ladies European Tour, Masters Tournament and an exclusive content partnership with Tiger Woods. GolfTV is working with Woods on content such as instruction to help players improve their game, and exclusive access to his tournament preparation. Woods won the 2019 Masters Tournament. With the acquisition, Discovery gains: Golf Digest, Golf World and Golf Digest schools. “Golf Digest is a world-class brand that has become the ‘go-to’ authority for millions of golf enthusiasts, professional players and global advertisers," says Discovery CEO David Zaslav. "Through our investments with the PGA Tour, the European Tour and our partnership with Tiger Woods, we wanted to bolster GolfTV’s international offerings with Golf Digest’s award-winning journalism, broad consumer reach and deep content library while also creating the largest U.S. digital golf business." Advisors to Condé Nast include: Greenhill & Co. (NYSE: GHL) and Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP. The legal counsel to Discovery is Proskauer Rose LLP.

Healthcare companies are spending more on information technology than ever before. Private equity firms including Bain Capital, Great Hill Partners, GTCR, New Heritage Capital and the Riverside Co. are investing in the innovations most in demand, including big data, Software-as-a-Service and artificial intelligence. See 5 private equity-backed healthcare technology deals.

DEAL NEWS
Supply chain and global trade management companies E2open and Amber Road Inc. (NYSE: AMBR) have agreed to merge in a deal valued at around $425 million. E2open is a cloud-based provider of supply chain management services that helps businesses better plan, collaborate and execute their end-to-end operations. Amber Road offers cloud-based global trade management software that helps companies digitize their supply chains. Advisors to Amber Road include: KeyBanc Capital Markets and Dentons US. Advisors to E2open include: Lazard and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.

Carlyle Group (Nasdaq: CG)-backed data and analytics company ION is buying a majority stake in financial services data provider Acuris from BC Partners and GIC. Financial advisors to Acuris include: J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).

CCMP Capital Advisors-backed Truck Hero, a maker of truck covers, has acquired automotive accessories seller Lund International Holding Co. from Highlander Partners. Lund makes and sells products such as Ventvisors hood shields and PowerstepsTM floor mats. Ropes & Gray represented the buyers. Katten Muchin Rosenman represented the sellers. Financing was provided by Jefferies.

Gamut Capital Management-backed JPW Industries has bought metalworking and woodworking products maker Baileigh Industrial Holdings.

West Lane Capital Partners has acquired a majority stake in Fantasy Files Group, a manufacturer of cosmetic products under the Blue Cross and Savina brands.

BV Investment Partners has made a minority investment in government technology platform CivicPlus.

For more fundraising news, see PE fundraising scorecard: Advent, KKR Lending, Metalmark, Pike Street.

For more deal announcements, see Weekly wrap: Edgewell, KPS, Perrigo.

FEATURED CONTENT
Call for nominations: Mergers & Acquisitions has opened up the nomination process for the second annual 2019 Rising Stars of Private Equity. Last year, we named 11 PE investors to the list, including Ethan Liebermann, who was recently promoted from principal to director of TA Associates, and Jennifer Roach Pacini, a vice president of Yellow Wood Partners. For the Rising Stars of Private Equity, we look for individuals who are full-time private equity investors and whose best days are yet to come. These are the folks you predict will one day play a key leadership role at your PE firm – or will head up their own. There is no age cutoff. As a general rule of thumb, we are looking for candidates beyond entry-level investing but before making partner. We publish the list online in July and in the July/August issue of the magazine. The deadline for nominations is end of day Thursday, May 23, 2019. Nominations will be accepted only through our online form. There is no fee.

CLICK HERE TO NOMINATE A RISING STAR OF PRIVATE EQUITY
Click here for the 2018 Rising Stars of Private Equity.

Technology is revolutionizing the healthcare industry and fueling an explosion of transactions. Some of the most promising areas of innovation are: big data, medical devices, revenue cycle management, Software-as-a-Service and payment processing. “Healthcare IT is the largest cottage industry in the world,” says Sam Hendler, who leads healthcare IT deals at Harris Williams, which recently won Mergers & Acquisitions’ 2018 M&A Mid-Market Award for Investment Bank of the Year. “Healthcare IT is a highly fragmented, multi-billion-dollar market with thousands of companies focused on different $250 million to $500 million sub-markets. Savvy investors see there is an opportunity to aggregate assets and build platforms of scale. It’s an incredibly exciting time in healthcare IT.” For an in-depth look at five technologies driving M&A in healthcare, see Healthcare's must-have technologies.

Excelled. Innovated. Inspired. That’s what the eight winners of Mergers & Acquisitions’ 12th Annual M&A Mid-Market Awards did in 2018. Our awards honor the leading dealmakers and deals that set the standard for transactions in the middle market. In addition to Nike, award winners include: Fortive, TA Associates, the Riverside Co., Harris Williams, Monroe Capital, Goodwin and Luminate Capital Partners' Hollie Haynes. Read our full coverage: Meet the winners of the M&A Mid-Market Awards: Nike, Fortive, TA, Harris Williams.

Technology permeates dealmaking today. “Tech is, more or less, touching everything,” as the authors of the 2019 BDO Technology Outlook Survey put it. You can see the impact of tech throughout the 2018 winners of Mergers & Acquisitions’ M&A Mid-Market Awards, especially Luminate Capital Partners founder Hollie Hayne scoring Dealmaker of the Year for raising a second fund to invest in enterprise software companies and TA Associates winning Private Equity Firm of the Year for investing a record $2.8 billion in new portfolio companies, most of which are infused with technology.

Related: Why private equity firms still love technology
Related: 10 private equity firms share strategies for tech M&A.

Genstar Capital, Audax and HarbourVest ranked as the top U.S. private equity firms of 2018, based on volume of completed deals, according to PitchBook. Check out Mergers & Acquisitions' profiles of 21 firms that led the league tables. Top private equity firms: Genstar, Audax, HarbourVest.

Also see: Top investment banks in PE-backed deals: KPMG, Houlihan, GS, William Blair.

Mergers & Acquisitions has named 36 leaders the 2019 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A, including Kainos Capital's Sarah Bradley, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors' Nishita Cummings and Pelham S2K Managers' Venita Fields. All 36 are outstanding dealmakers both inside and outside of their firms. This year, we asked the featured dealmakers to tell their own stories through Q&As, including their advice for women. Related: Meet the 2019 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A.

EVENTS
Innovation Works holds its second annual AI/Robotics Venture Fair in Pittsburgh May 15-16.

ACG Chicago hosts the Midwest Capital Connection, at The Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile, May 21-22.

ACG New York, ACG Boston and ACG Philadelphia are holding the Industrial Conference with Value Creation at the Infor in New York on June 6. The event is part of the Northeast Industry Tour.

ACG Minnesota hosts the the Upper Midwest ACG Capital Connection at the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel, The Depot, June 10-11.

ACG Boston brings together 700-plus dealmakers for DealFest Northeast and DealSource Select 2019 at the Cyclorama and the State Room, June 12-13.

Exponent Women hosts the Annual Exchange, which brings a trusted network of women dealmakers together for a focused day of robust content and networking, at Second in New York, on July 11. The Exchange provides attendees with opportunities to establish new connections, reinforce existing ones and absorb timely and relevant knowledge from industry leaders.