Private equity, transactions down 20%

Second year in a row of decline in global private equity activity. Absolute numbers, however, often do not give an overall picture of market developments. Broadening the view to a longer time series allows for a better understanding of how the 15,056 deals amounting to $1,323bn in 2023 are in line with the evolution of the closed-end fund industry in the pre-pandemic. Indeed, the figures are higher in terms of number of deals than pre-Covid and stable in terms of total amount.

Admittedly, the record levels of 2021, with 20,168 deals for $2,221 billion, are a long way off, but it is also true that a number of acquisitions that had been pending during the pandemic year came to fruition then. And the rise in rates between the US and Europe during the year certainly did not play in private equity's favour.

Le operazioni dei private equity

Fonte PitchBook

Going into the details of the data just published by PitchBook, buyout deals are the ones making the market, with a share of76.6% thanks to 11,536 deals. The evolution of multiples is interesting, with 2023 at its lowest level in seven years with 11 times the enterprise value/Ebitda ratio. This is quite a drop from 12.4 times in 2022 and 13.2 times in 2021. In previous years, transactions averaged 11.5 times, which is still higher than last year.

Andaemnto dei multipli delle operazioni di buyout

Fonte PitchBook

From the geographical breakdown, however, it emerges that North America remains the market driver with 7,161 deals for a total value of 693.5 billion, followed by Europe with 6,103 deals for 455 billion. Well behind comes Asia with 980 deals for a total value of 95.1 billion.

Andamento dei deal per geografie

Fonte PitchBook

The other side of the coin is exit activity, which was particularly complex, partly because the option of IPOs, which is expected to recover this year, was almost completely lacking. There were 2,415 investment exits for a total amount of Lire 574.2 billion, down 31.5% year-on-year.