BY Fraser Tennant
A wealth of insight into recent trends in the private equity space is showcased in the 2Q US ‘Private Equity Breakdown Report – newly published by data & technology provider for the global private equity and venture capital markets, PitchBook.
The report, an annual publication produced in partnership with virtual dataroom solution Merrill DataSite, offers data-driven analysis on deal flow, investment trends, exit activity and an overview of the year's fundraising activity.
The 2Q 2015 report includes: (i) deal volume and capital invested by year and quarter; (ii) investments by deal size, industry and region; (iii) buyout multiples and debt percentages; (iv) exits and fundraising overviews; and (v) league tables.
PitchBook’s headline figures show that during the first quarter of 2015, private equity investors completed 634 deals in the US worth $100.7bn – representing a 30 percent decrease in deal count and a 26 percent decrease in capital invested when compared to last year’s corresponding quarter.
In terms of fundraising, the report states that the number of closed funds dropped to 38 in 1Q 2015 - the lowest number since 3Q 2010 and a 55 percent decrease from 3Q 2014. As far as exits are concerned, the pace is reported as having slowed in 1Q 2015 with only 218 exits completed by private equity sellers.
“Private equity and M&A deal-making remains highly competitive across the board, driven by a huge amount of available cash and debt funding,” said Adley Bowden, PitchBook’s senior director of analysis. “This environment has led to a bit of a pullback in private equity deals, an increased focus on the middle-market and more non-traditional private equity transactions. As long as the current environment persists we expect private equity activity to stay in a similar range to the last several quarters as firms hunt for value and focus on the growth of their portfolio companies.”
The PitchBook report also features a Q&A with Jamie Spaman, managing director at Murray Devine, in which he discusses the current valuations environment and increased activity surrounding carve-out transactions.
