'Emerging buyers' flex deal-making muscle, bypass private equity

New York

FOR decades, the buyers in some of the largest deals had come in three forms: private equity firms, corporations and public-market investors.

But over the past few years, a new group of buyers has sprung up: Sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and even private families have flexed their deal-making muscles. As interest rates hover near zero (and in many parts of the world, below zero), these investors, with trillions of dollars in their war chests, have taken it on themselves to buy pieces of companies, or in some cases, the entire thing.