Overview
According to PitchBook – Annual European PE Breakdown 2022 Report , private equity (PE) dealmaking remained resilient in European area, despite the macroeconomic environment deteriorating, with both deal value (+1,4%) and deal count (+13.1%) increasing year-on-year.
European PE exits dropped to their lowest value in nine years and also dropped sequentially each quarter this year, from €69.5 billion in Q1 to €31.8 billion in Q4, the lowest quarter since Q1 of 2013.
PE growth/expansion funds continued proving popular throughout 2022, as more developing companies show the potential for an accelerated growth. Growth/expansion was hitting €76.7 billion in deal value in 2022. It has also grown in importance compared to other types of buyouts as it represented a record 12.9% of deal value in 2022.
Deal size
2022 was a year of smaller, but more numerous deals with only 36 deals of over €1 billion in Europe, roughly half of last year’s figure and a nine-year low as PE cheques got smaller across the industry and borrowing costs increased.
Still, it’s important to notice that median and average PE deal value is only slightly lower than previous year ones and above past figures, that indicates an intense mid and upper mid-market activity.
One can find the full report here : https://pitchbook.com/news/reports/2022-annual-european-pe-breakdown
