Private equity buyout tracker – Q2 2026

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project tracks and publishes data on private equity-backed acquisitions of companies with 500 or more employees. Using PitchBook, press releases, and news searches, this acquisitions tracker will be updated with leveraged buyouts and add-on acquisitions each quarter. See the Airtable and interactive visualization below.

An asterisk denotes an add-on acquisition; the private equity firm(s) acquired a smaller target through an existing portfolio company (the parent company in the following column).

In the second quarter of 2026, private equity firms acquired more than 70 US-based companies with at least 500 employees. Most of these acquisitions fell under the Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector, including companies in information technology and software. The second largest sector by number of companies is Manufacturing at 26 percent, an increase from 16 percent in the first quarter of this year. 

The following sections explore how private equity impacts various sectors. 

Manufacturing

SunOpta
SunOpta manufactures food products for supermarkets across North America, employing more than 1,200 people in the US and Canada. Previously traded on the Nasdaq with 20% of shares owned by private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management, KKR-owned Refresco acquired SunOpta in May. 

OSHA has identified 15 health and safety violations at non-union SunOpta plants around the country in the past five years, resulting in more than $130,000 in fines. In North Dakota, OSHA found unsafe manlifts, grain handling facilities without a permit, and a lack of fall protection. 

SunOpta now belongs to bottling company Refresco, which has also faced labor disputes in recent years. Workers at a plant in Wharton, New Jersey fought for two years to get a first contract, with the company hiring union-busting consultants and forcing multiple elections. As of August 5, UE members at the plant are working with an expired contract. 

In April, Refresco issued a notice as required by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act for a facility closure in Carlisle, Ohio, laying off 63 people. In the notice, Refresco’s Human Resources Director wrote that the company decided to close the facility “after extensive review of various factors related to Refresco’s manufacturing operations and network; ceasing production at this facility was because of the needs of Refresco’s customers as well as high operating costs.”

In late 2025, OSHA found that a worker at the plant suffered an amputation due to hazardous conditions. The company settled and is required to pay $10,000. OSHA records show another complaint related to an amputation in 2024, though the company was not issued any citations.

MW Components
UK-based private equity firm Rosebank Industries acquired manufacturing companies MW Components and CPM Holdings in May. These acquisitions mark the firm’s second and third investments; Rosebank acquired its first portfolio company, Electrical Components International, in August 2025. Due to Rosebank’s goal to “double shareholders’ investment in a given acquisition over a three- to five-year investment horizon,” the firm needs to make changes in the company quickly. For MW Components workers in Houston, this meant a plant closure and layoffs just one week after the acquisition. In early June, 53 workers were notified of layoffs through a WARN Act notice. 

To learn more about layoffs at private equity-owned companies, see our WARN layoff brief. 

Orchid
Orchid Orthopedic Solutions is a medical device manufacturer headquartered in Michigan. The company has been owned by private equity firms since 2000, changing hands four times. Most recently, Charlesbank Capital Partners acquired Orchid from Nordic Capital through existing portfolio company Tecomet. 

Under Nordic’s leadership, the company launched a union-busting campaign at one of its Oregon locations. Orchid hired consultants from National Labor Relations Advocates, well-known for discouraging workers from organizing to form a union. The consultants charge thousands of dollars per day for on-site work, which could include things like captive audience meetings (legal at the time) or training management on anti-union rhetoric. Orchid spent more than $165,000 in just three months to challenge workers organizing with Teamsters Local 206.

New owner Charlesbank Capital Partners has had a number of severe labor issues in its portfolio over the last five years. Most notably, Charlesbank was implicated in a child labor scandal at portfolio company Hearthside Food Solutions, which makes snacks, cereals, and baked goods for various brands at dozens of facilities. In February 2023, a New York Times story detailed potential child labor violations and dangerous working conditions in Michigan. Hearthside disputed the allegations against it, pointing instead to the staffing agencies the company uses to hire workers.

The child labor investigations were not the first sign of trouble for Hearthside workers. According to the Times article, OSHA had cited Hearthside for 34 health and safety violations and at least 11 workers have suffered amputations since 2019. The company paid $4.5 million to settle child labor charges in late 2024.

In addition to health and safety concerns, Hearthside and Charlesbank have been questioned about limiting workers’ freedom of association. In July 2021, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown sent a letter to Charlesbank Capital about the firm’s “anti-union practices” at Hearthside and another portfolio company. According to Brown’s letter, workers at a company acquired by Hearthside endured “captive audience meetings, use of anti-union ‘consultants,’ legal delays, surveillance, harassment, threats of plant closures, and firing of employees involved in the organizing campaigns” in violation of the National Labor Relations Act. One of Brown’s constituents later testified at a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee hearing about her experience at Hearthside. The company filed for bankruptcy less than two years after its use of child labor came to light and lenders subsequently took over.

Education and Healthcare

HES Facilities Management
HES Facilities Management provides janitorial and groundskeeping services to K-12 and higher education institutions around the country. The company employs 12,000 in 30 states, and is looking to expand. GI Partners acquired the company this quarter, adding to its portfolio that spans health technology, real estate, data infrastructure, and more. While HES plays an important role in serving educational systems, other companies owned by GI Partners have faced opposition for potential harm to communities.

GI Partners executives are pushing the narrative that data centers are “among the most desirable – and best returning – types of commercial real estate.” In Q1, the firm acquired two data centers in Baltimore, bringing its portfolio to 78 centers total. Data centers have faced significant resistance from local communities, due to the potential for a high burden on power sources, increased emissions and pollution, and higher utility bills. One of GI Partners’ projects in Santa Clara, California was delayed by six months after city officials denied a permit amidst community pushback. See PESP coverage about the impacts of private equity in data centers here.

Vi Living
Vi Living owns and operates 10 senior living facilities in the US. The company was acquired by Redwood Holdings through portfolio company Life Care Companies, better known as Life Care Services of America (LCS). In 2025, Vi settled a class action lawsuit after a data breach left more than 61,000 residents exposed. 

LCS ranked third largest on the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA) list of top senior housing operators in 2025, with 121 properties and 33,766 total senior living units. Private equity firm McCarthy Capital shares ownership of the company with LCS employees and, in January 2022, Redwood Capital Investments was brought in as an additional investor. 

As of July 2026, LCS operates senior living facilities in 29 states under various brands it has acquired over the years. Most of the facilities offer assisted living, which is for older adults who need daily care, but do not need as much care as provided in a nursing home. The overwhelming majority of assisted living residents pay privately; and assisted living communities can fly under the regulatory radar. The U.S. government does not oversee assisted living facilities. State-level regulation of assisted living providers is patchwork and uneven across states.

The lack of regulation makes it difficult to identify systemic issues in assisted living communities. For example, federal records are unable to identify the number of deaths in assisted living communities during the pandemic. For assisted living residents, private equity ownership might mean increased rents for residents, reduced care staffing, and lack of necessary facility improvements. These measures are incompatible with a senior living model that prioritizes care and support for older adults.

Utilities and Waste Management

Priority Waste
Priority Waste services residential, commercial, and industrial locations in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. Founded in 2018, the company employs nearly 1,500 people. After Priority Waste acquired 75 contracts from GFL Environmental in June 2024, residents began complaining about delays in service, leading multiple municipalities to withhold pay from the company and at least one contract termination. Soon after, the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) identified three violations at Priority Waste in Clinton Township in September 2024, costing the company $13,000. One of the September violations was a “repeat,” signaling unresolved issues from previous violations in December 2023.

The company board of directors fired CEO and founder Todd Stamper in February 2026. Despite this change, the problems continued; in April, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) issued the company a violation notice for spilling liquid waste on Eastpointe streets. The Department requested further documentation of waste cleanup and plans to prevent spills in the future.

On June 1, less than six weeks after TPG acquired the company, Priority Waste announced Aaron Johnson as the new CEO.

Inframark
Azuria Water Solutions, owned by New Mountain Capital and Alberta Investment Management, finalized its acquisition of Inframark in April and merged the companies. The firms have owned Azuria (formerly known as Legion) since May 2021. The combined company has more than 6,000 employees. 

In 2023, local officials investigated an Inframark-operated wastewater plant in Houston for improper sewage treatment. Despite the company being a “top contender” for a new wastewater contract in the city, Houston officials argued that the incident constituted a breach of contract and decided to end its relationship with the company. Later that year, the Environmental Protection Agency found that Inframark treatment plants in nearby Pasadena, Texas violated standards for wastewater pollutants.