AIG

Call for Nominations: Deadline is Feb. 7 for M&A Mid-Market Awards. We've named the 2020 Most Influential Women. What's ahead for M&A in 2020? We ask bankers from Piper Jaffray, William Blair. In deal news: Aflac buys stake in mid-market lender Varagon, plus more M&A news.

Carlyle-led group buys majority stake in insurer Fortitude from AIG. Blackstone backs bladder cancer treatment company through JV. Kroger, Walmart , invest in smart supermarkets. More deal news from Silver Lake, Palo Alto.

PE firms, including Carlyle, Apollo and Blackstone, have been building their own insurance vehicles in recent years.

Sycamore Partners, which counts Staples among its investments, has raised its third fund at $4.75 billion. The New York-based PE firm now has about $10 billion in assets.