Can Secondary Exits Remain as Profitable?

Exits have been hard to come by for private equity in 2009 but even harder has been sales of portfolio companies to other private equity investors, with on 33 completed so far. New research from PitchBook shows these secondary exits have a record of being fairly profitable for PE investors, generating an average exit multiple of almost 2.5 times. The jury is still out on the investments made in 2006 and 2007 as to whether secondary exits will prove to be as lucrative as in previous years but early data shows they may not. Likely a result of the scarcity of leverage, slow PE deal flow, and the current seller-buyer valuation gap.