KPS Capital Partners is buying Brunswick Corp.'s (NYSE: BC) fitness business for $490 million. The target manufactures and sells strength and cardiovascular equipment along with billiards tables under the brand names: Life Fitness, Hammer Strength, Cybex, Indoor Cycling Group, Scifit and Brunswick Billiards. "Life Fitness has the largest global installed base of equipment, with approximately two million pieces of cardiovascular and strength equipment used regularly by over 60 million people worldwide," says Jay Bernstein KPS. The sale is part of Brunswick's strategy to focus on its marine business, which makes boat engine parts. “With the sale of the Fitness business, we sharpen our focus on Brunswick’s unique and formidable marine platform,” says Brunswick CEO David Foulkes. "After thoughtful evaluation of a range of options and a robust auction process, we concluded this sale is the best outcome for Brunswick and our shareholders." "We will work closely with KPS to develop and execute a focused strategic plan centered on our mission to inspire healthier lives," adds Life Fitness president Jason Worthy. KPS focuses on the automotive, consumer, healthcare, manufacturing and materials sectors. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is advising KPS on the Life Fitness deal. Advisors to Brunswick include: Citi and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. 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. DEAL NEWS TPG has closed its Tech Adjacencies fund at $1.6 billion. The fund provides capital to founders, employees and early investors in tech companies looking for liquidity, and structured equity to companies that are looking for additional, creative capital for growth. “In developing TTAD, we’re combining our differentiated insight and sector expertise to bring a new capital solution to an emerging class of technology companies and entrepreneurs who are choosing to stay private longer," says TPG co-CEO Jon Winkelried. Arsenal Capital Partners has acquired Hopebridge LLC, a provider of behavioral health services for children affected by autism spectrum disorders. Advisors to Arsenal include: Cain Brothers and Ropes & Gray. Advisors to Hopebridge include: Harris Williams and DLA Piper. Doganella di Ninfa, an Italian investment company owned by Consilum SGR S.p.A., Progressio SGR S.p.A., and MMM S.r.l., is buying Conagra Brands Inc.'s (NYSE: CAG) Italian frozen pasta business, Gelit. BNP Paribas and Jones Day are advising Conagra. Accel-KKR has invested in OrthoFi, a software provider for the orthodontics industry. For more deal news, see Weekly wrap: 3M, LLR, Parker. For more PE fundraising news, see PE fundraising scorecard: Arlington, Avista, Silver Lake, TorQuest. PEOPLE MOVES Robert (Bobby) Blumenfeld, executive director of ACG New York, a chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth, will depart the organization to pursue new business opportunities, effective Aug. 31. Blumenfeld joined the chapter in 2000 and became its first full-time executive director in 2010. During his leadership, Blumenfeld grew membership from 175 members to more than 1,100 and increased annual programming from nine events to 65. Blumenfeld was instrumental in creating and developing: ACG Cares; ACG University-New York, in conjunction with Fordham University; and Middle Market Week. Speaking on behalf of the group, president David Acharya, a partner at AGI Partners, said, "I like to thank Bobby for his dedication and exemplary work that helped make ACG New York into the successful middle market networking association it is today.” The board has named a search committee for its next leader, headed by Marcia Nelson, managing director of Alberleen Family Office Solutions. Tom Eggemeier was hired by private equity firm Permira as a partner, where he is focusing on the technology sector. Eggemeier was most recently the president of Permira-backed Genesys. Jeanine Krattiger has been promoted to managing director at investment bank Carl Marks Advisors. Krattiger leads firm’s strategic marketing and business development initiatives including events, brand awareness, content marketing, and digital and internal communications. Gregory Olson was hired by middle-market investment firm Graycliff Partners as an operating partner. Olson is the former chief development officer at Ichor Systems. Graycliff also announced that Brandon Martindale has been promoted to managing director and Duke Punhong to managing partner. Brian Schofield has joined middle-market investment bank Capstone Headwaters as a managing director. He was previously with Lampert Advisors, and focuses on private equity firms and private owners of middle market businesses in the placement of various forms of senior and junior corporate debt financing. 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 (bottom row, far left), 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. Related: Read more about Mergers & Acquisitions' three annual special reports, including the M&A Mid-Market Awards, the Rising Stars of Private Equity, and the Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A. 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 one way or the other. Related: Why private equity firms still love technology Related: 10 private equity firms share strategies for tech M&A. 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. Genstar Capital, Audax, 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 and more 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 InterGrowth 2019 takes place May 6-8 at the Waldorf Astoria & Hilton Bonnet Creek in Orlando, Florida. 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 & 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.