New On The Block

• Willow Tree Credit Partners seeks to sell a minority stake and is soliciting potential buyers, according to Bloomberg. The New York-based firm has about $5 billion in assets under management.

• Bloomberg also reports that Zurich-based Partners Group is divesting a 49% stake in Italian toll road business Telepass. It first purchased the stake in 2021. Italy's Benetton family maintains control with a 51% stake.

Updates From The Block

• Axios broke the news that a New Zealand-based metaverse company called Futureverse acquired NFT startup Candy Digital. Major League Baseball, Netflix and DC Comics are among Candy Digital’s partners. That wasn’t the only metaverse deal this past week.

• Infinite Reality, which boasts a $15-billion valuation, agreed to buy agentic AI company Touchcast for $500 million. Last month, Infinitie Reality acquired digital music innovator Napster for $207 million.

• Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) announced that it purchased a taxi app from BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility for €175 million ($197 million) in cash.

Off The Block

• Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) closed its $4.1-billion acquisition of payroll and HR software firm Paycor HCM. The deal was first announced in January.

• TPG completed its $2.2-billion take-private buyout of Altus Power, the largest owner of commercial-scale solar in the U.S. Approximately 40% of the company’s stock is already committed to the deal. Altus Power expects the transaction to officially close within the second quarter.

Bankruptcy On The Block

Check out last week’s edition of the Deal Dispatch.

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