Josh Harris, just two years removed from losing a power struggle at Apollo Global Management, has emerged as the king of professional sports.

Driving the news: Harris has a deal in principle to buy the NFL's Washington Commanders franchise from Dan Snyder.

• The reported price tag is just north of $6 billion, which easily smashes the pro sports record set just last year when Walmart heir Robb Walton agreed to buy the Denver Broncos for $4.65 billion.
• Harris' co-investors include Danaher Corp. co-founder Mitchell Rales and basketball great Magic Johnson. No word yet on if Snyder gets to retain a piece, but odds are that part of the premium is in exchange for excising one of the NFL's worst owners.
• Caveat: NFL owners still must approve the sale, and there were rival bids (albeit not from Jeff Bezos, who may be waiting for the Seattle Seahawks to hit the block next year ... or maybe to drop in at the very last minute in D.C., like David Tepper did in Carolina).

The portfolio: Harris does have Beltway bonafides, given that he was born in Maryland and attended The Field School.

• His co-ownership of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, alongside Blackstone Group's David Blitzer, is similarly explained by his time at U Penn.
• But, to be clear, legitimate D.C. sports fans despise Philly, and vice versa. Particularly when it comes to football.
• For Harris, the real north star is an opportunity to own. That's why he bought into the Premier League's Crystal Palace F.C., has circled other European soccer clubs and even threw a few dollars into Blitzer's purchase of a 25% stake in the Cleveland Guardians.
• Plus, Harris is a minority owner of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, which presumably would be divested as part of a Commanders purchase.

ROI: Yes, Harris is overpaying by any reasonable standard. The Commanders share a media market with Baltimore, and play in a dilapidated suburban stadium.

• Even if he can get public buy-in for a new facility in a new location — perhaps from former private equity peer Gov. Glenn Youngkin in Virginia — the $6 billion is effectively table stakes.
• His bet, of course, is that scarcity will continue to drive up the value of NFL teams, eventually making this deal look like a bargain. For context, Snyder paid just $800 million for the club in 1999. Or, as CNBC's Brian Sullivan points out, he got $23 million richer each time his team lost (and it lost a lot).

The bottom line: Harris has a full-time job outside of sports, last year launching a new investment firm that has yet to announce any deals. But his legacy will be settled on the fields, courts and rinks.

EQT is in talks to buy British veterinary drugmaker Dechra (LSE: DPH) for around $5.8 billion, representing a 46% stock price premium, with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority participating as a co-investor.

Why it's the BFD: This reflects how private equity remains bullish on pets, even if pandemic-era growth has eased.

Backstory: EQT already has veterinary exposure via investments in retailer ZooPlus and pet insurer ManyPets. It has until May 11 to make a formal takeover offer, per U.K. rules.

The bottom line: Dechra, which caters to both the small and large animal markets, saw its shares briefly soar into the FTSE 100 in 2021. But they were later halved, prior to a spike on the EQT news.

🚀 Kepler, a Toronto-based developer of an on-orbit data network, raised US$92m. IA Ventures led, and was joined by Costanoa Ventures, Canaan Partners, Tribe Capital and BDC Capital. https://axios.link/43w4q6N

🚑 BioVentrix, a San Ramon, Calif.-based developer of a treatment for ischemic heart failure, raised $48.5m in Series A funding. Andera Partners led, and was joined by Cormorant Asset Management, Taglich Brothers, Squarepoint Capital and Richmond Brothers. https://axios.link/3KZzCUT

• Elevate, a Denver-based consumer benefits administration startup, raised $28m. Anthemis led, and was joined by Fin Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Greycroft, Bowery Capital and Firebolt Ventures. https://axios.link/43BvTUv

• Next Gate Tech, a provider of data management software to investment funds, raised €8m led by Deutsche Börse. https://axios.link/3of9dsU

• Distyl AI, an SF-based startup that integrates AI into core biz workflows, raised $7m in seed funding co-led by Coatue and Dell Technologies Capital. www.distyl.ai

• Reef.ai, a Honolulu-based net revenue retention startup, raised $5.2m. Struck Capital led, and was joined by SCV-SBI, Builders VC and Dig Ventures. https://axios.link/43vaa0w

🚑 Little Journey, a British pediatric surgery patient support startup, raised £3.1m in new seed funding, per Axios Pro. Octopus Ventures led, and was joined by Calm/Storm Ventures and Mercia Assets. https://axios.link/3mrTp5V

🚑 Tara Mind, a San Diego-based psychedelic-assisted therapy startup, raised $3m in pre-seed funding from Red Cell Partners. www.taramind.com

🚀 Argo Space, a developer of spacecrafts powered by lunar water, raised $2m. Type One Ventures led, and was joined by Boost VC, Stellar Ventures and Earthrise Ventures. https://axios.link/3GGVMZw

• Context Labs, an enterprise data fabric tech startup with offices in Amsterdam and Massachusetts, is in talks to raise up to $150m, per Reuters. It previously raised a $22m Series A round led by Shamrock Ventures. https://axios.link/3GHvAxK

In today’s volatile M&A market, private equity firms must navigate the sell-side process while avoiding surprises and driving value in a downturn.

How it’s done:

1. Develop a value creation story.
2. Build a realistic roadmap.
3. Prepare for exit.

Lastly, plan for strategic buyers.

• Bodhi Tree Investments, led by James Murdoch, cut its planned investment in India’s Viacom18 joint venture with Reliance Industries to $528m from $1.78b. Reliance will increase its investment to $1.32b from $216m. https://axios.link/3UBwUYI

• H.I.G. Infrastructure acquired Tower Engineering Professionals, a Raleigh, N.C.-based provider of engineering and other services for telecom infrastructure. www.tepgroup.net

• Matrix Imaging Solutions, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based portfolio company of Lakelet Capital, acquired DataProse, a Dallas-based provider of transactional business document services. www.matriximaging.com

⚡ Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners acquired PurposeEnergy, a Windham, N.H.-based food-waste-to-fuels producer. www.purposeenergy.com

• Warburg Pincus received Chinese regulatory approval to buy a 23.3% stake in mutual fund manager Zhong Ou Asset Management. https://axios.link/43uYKKi

🚑 Acelyrin, an Agoura Hills, Calif.-based developer of therapies for inflammatory diseases, filed for an IPO. The pre-revenue company plans to list on the Nasdaq (SLRN) and raised over $550m from firms like Matrix Capital Management (15% pre-IPO stake), Westlake Village BioPartners (13.7%), Orbimed (6.5%), Citadel's Surveyor Capital (6.4%), VenBio, Decheng Capital, Marshall Wace, Samsara BioCapital, and Access Biotechnology. https://axios.link/3zZwCkW

• Arch Insurance acquired Thimble, a New York-based small biz insuretech that had raised over $22m from backers like IAC, MS&AD Ventures, Gaingels, Slow Ventures, AXA Venture Partners and OpenOcean. https://axios.link/3zW0ZIQ

• Bridgepoint is seeking a buyer for French insurance broker Kereis, which could be valued at around €2b, per Reuters. https://axios.link/3GFqty5

• Zoom (Nasdaq: ZM) acquired Workvivo, a Cork and Boston-based employee experience app that had raised over $40m from firms like Tiger Global, Enterprise Ireland and Frontline Ventures. www.workvivo.com

• Amber Group, a Singapore-based crypto lender, is considering a sale process for its Japan unit, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3zZiUi4

• Gojo Industries, the Akron, Ohio-based owner of Purell hand sanitizer, hired JPMorgan to find a buyer, per the WSJ. A deal could be valued at around $3b. https://axios.link/3KDx5ON

• IBM (NYSE: IBM) is seeking a buyer for its weather unit, which could fetch more than $1b, per the WSJ. It paid more than $2b for the business in 2015. https://axios.link/41mXiI0

• Starboard (fka Olympic Media), a Virginia-based company led by Ryan Coyne, agreed to buy Parler, the social media company that Kanye West previously agreed to purchase. Starboard plans to temporarily shutter the app. https://axios.link/3UxRKs5

• Trillium, an activist investor, asked Getty Images (NYSE: GETY) to explore a possible sale. It also is pushing for a board seat. https://axios.link/3GJtw8j

• Walmart (NYSE: WMT) agreed to sell Bonobos to WHP Global and Express for $75m. It purchased the clothing brand in 2017 for $310m. https://axios.link/3MJEKh8

• Barings raised $680m for an "innovation real estate" investment fund. www.barings.com

• Lux Capital raised $1.15b for its eighth flagship VC fund. https://axios.link/3MKHpXI

• Fraser Kelton, the former head of product at OpenAI, joined Spark Capital as a venture partner. https://axios.link/3L6zAKZ

🚑 Patient Square Capital promoted Justin Sabet-Peyman to partner. https://axios.link/3Uzvf5U

U.S. corporations and private equity firms have increased interest in foreign takeover targets, per a Deloitte report released this week.

• Inside the numbers, however, the interest is more selective.
• The biggest gainer was Canada (+15 points), in part due to proximity, while others included the U.K. (+8), "Scandinavia" (+8), Australia (+8) and India (+6).

Private equity firms can leverage data and cross-sell opportunities to help their portfolio companies make decisions based on quantifiable revenue while still preparing for a downturn.

An example: Machine learning can help identify customers most primed for cross-sells.

Get more details.

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