Is private equity at full capacity? Download PitchBook’s Report click here. 2017 may have been a watershed year for private equity. 2009 certainly was: for all the discussion about PE’s recovery post-crisis—a record seller’s market, record dry powder levels, another big fundraising boom—the number of new entrants slowed to a crawl in 2009 and never…

Buyout funds, distressed debt strategies outperform their peers Download PitchBook’s Report click here. How do private asset classes compare on a real and risk-adjusted basis? Our latest analyst note (Is the risk worth the wait?) gauged the risk/return profile of buyout funds between 2000 and 2012 against PE growth, PE energy and venture capital strategies,…

FoF needs a reset Download PitchBook’s Report click here. Are fund-of-funds obsolete? It’s a question that’s been asked over the years, but one that is taking on more urgency as the numbers continue to slide down and to the right. FoF fundraising declined a fourth straight year in 2016 and is on track for a…

The middle market isn’t cheap Download PitchBook’s Report click here. Middle market activity has never been as strong as it is now. What used to be a space to find bargains has turned into just another frenzied market, one among many. The median valuation-to-EBITDA multiple for all middle-market M&A transactions is up yet again this…

PE-backed IPOs: A hairy 2017 It’s no secret that PE sellers have preferred outright sales over IPOs recently. There are big advantages to staying private, and many of the best-performing assets on sale since 2016 have been bought outright by financial or corporate buyers. Why test the temperamental public markets when acquisitions can bring in…

The middle market keeps growing Download PitchBook’s Report click here. Middle-market PE activity continued unabated in 3Q. $233 billion has been invested in the MM across 1,652 deals this year, according to our recently released 3Q 2017 Middle Market Report, and the fourth quarter should help push 2017 figures past last year’s, with at least…

US-Canada PE activity rising, despite politics Download PitchBook’s Report click here. Cross-border private equity activity remains high in Canada, despite trade-related fears at the onset of the incoming Trump administration. According to our latest Canada Breakdown report, available to download here, PE activity involving US investors is on a quick pace in 2017. The 163…

PE’s growing influence on M&A Download PitchBook’s Report click here. Private equity holdings now make up 11% of all target companies in the M&A market. That percentage was a good deal smaller in the not-so-distant past, but the share of PE-backed M&A targets has steadily increased since the financial crisis. Simple arithmetic explains part of…

Feels like the first time Download PitchBook’s Report click here. Like Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, rookies are sometimes better than the veterans. In our latest Analyst Report, we analyzed first-time PE fund returns against the broader PE landscape. Even with the disadvantages that come with rookie funds—less experienced staff, smaller infrastructure, fewer…

Private Equity’s Amazon Problem Nordstrom, thought to be a prime buyout candidate, is now having trouble securing debt commitments for a would-be deal. It opted this week to wait until after the holiday season to assess any PE buyout, even with an investor waiting in the wings. Following the bankruptcy of Toys R Us, another…