Private equity is still working through the deals of its boom years. Companies bought between 2018 and 2022, at high prices and with cheap debt, are now hard to exit. PitchBook calls them zombies. Private equity can give them more time, but the risks can accelerate if macro conditions deteriorate.
Fund sizes have also grown steadily over two decades, and bigger funds are absorbing bigger deals. Competition has pushed entry multiples and leverage higher, which can weigh on performance. The leaders in fundraising are not necessarily the leaders on returns.
Join PitchBook analysts Kyle Walters and Taylor Criswell, moderated by Juan Mier, as they discuss what these shifts mean for your private market portfolio.
What you’ll learn
- Why many boom-year acquisitions remain hard to exit, and which market shifts could make the problem worse
- How bigger funds and pricier deals affect returns, and why top fundraisers are not always top performers
- What an aging inventory of companies and larger fund sizes mean for private equity investors
