Updated Dec. 9, 2023
Private equity mega-deals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are on track to hit a decade low, by deal value, at the end of the year.
According to PitchBook’s 2023 DACH Private Capital Breakdown, just one PE deal in the region had breached the €2.5 billion ($2.69 billion) mark through the end of September.
While total PE deal value for this year is expected to finish at around €100 billion, which would only be a 13.7% decline compared to a record 2022, this is largely due to a healthy supply of add-on transactions.
Amid tight market conditions, sponsors have been eschewing larger deals in favor of more straightforward, and smaller, add-on deals. Deals in the so-called DACH region (covering Germany, Austria and Switzerland) worth between €100 million and €500 million accounted for 42.9% of total deal value last year; through the third quarter, they accounted for 61.7%.
Fundraising by DACH-based private equity funds has reached €4 billion. Although this total is relatively low, fundraising in the region tends to be quite irregular as there are not many PE firms domiciled there.
Read more: 2023 DACH Private Capital Breakdown
Clarification: This story was updated to clarify that the deal data is as of the end of September 2023.
Featured photo of Hallstatt, Austria by Barbara Gindl/Getty Images
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