Interested in sponsoring future editions of this report? Visit our media partnerships page to learn more.
US PE deal value tops $819B through Q3 as industry reverts to the "old normal"
After a busy start to the year, US PE dealmakers are finally feeling the bite of higher interest rates, with activity in Q3 collectively slowing across M&A, growth equity and recap deals by more than 20% year-over-year.
Yet what may seem like a dramatic decline could also be considered a reset. Far from being a new normal, 2021’s blistering pace of activity was an aberration, making the “old normal” of the pre-pandemic years a better comparison for private equity, according to our Q3 2022 US PE Breakdown, sponsored by Stout and DealCloud.
Key takeaways:
- Deal value topped $819 billion through Q3—equivalent to the second-highest annual total on record—as PE’s resilience and investors’ dry powder kept dealmaking on par with 2021 levels through July despite macroeconomic headwinds.
- In the IT sector, investors closed 254 deals worth an aggregate $57.5 billion in Q3, in line with historical quarterly averages, as declining public market valuations spark buyers’ interest in high-growth companies.
- For the first time in over a decade, take-privates surpassed $100 billion for the second consecutive year. In a major departure from the past, private debt funds have stepped in where banks left off to finance these deals.
- US PE fundraising totaled $259 billion through Q3, on pace with 2021, yet with many LPs having hit allocation targets for 2022, fundraising is expected to end the year with more of a thud than a bang.
Table of contents
Executive summary |
# |
Deals |
# |
A word from Stout |
# |
Spotlight |
# |
Exits |
# |
Fundraising and performance |
# |
A word from DealCloud |
# |