In 2018, we looked at the historical ratio of investments-to-exits for private equity portfolio companies. Generally, the data showed a trend of private equity firms pushing down market, focusing on smaller transactions. This down market trend was thematic from 2015 – 2018, and is now well-known within the M&A industry. Today, we repeat this study with updated data from 2017 – 2022YTD. We now see a reversal of the previous trend. That is, the ratio of the number of PE (Investments / Exits) shows private equity firms now moving up market to focus on Large and Mega deals. The Data All d ..read more

Expanding on our last post, Private Equity Investing in the Automotive Aftermarket Industry, the demand for electric vehicles has surged the EV fleet size on the road. Consequently, private equity investors have shown increased interest in the emerging EV charging stations industry. The chart below shows the trend of PE platform investments in the EV Charging Station industry. Recent PE Investments in the EV Charging Station Space July 2022 – LitCapital invested in Elinta Charge (Kaunas, Lithuania), an electric vehicle (EV) charging technology designer and manufacturer. January 2022 – The Car ..read more

The trending private equity investment sectors for September 2022 were Manufacturing – Electrical & Electronics, Healthcare – Therapy, and Software – Sales Systems. Sample transactions for each category are highlighted below. Manufacturing – Electrical & Electronics Industrifonden invested in Cascade Drives (Stockholm, Sweden), a developer and manufacturer of all-electric solutions for linear motion with the aim of replacing hydraulic cylinders. Cascade Drives has developed and patented a new type of electromechanical linear actuator. Chequers Capital invested in Somacis Graphic ..read more

The trending private equity investment sectors for the first half of 2022 are shown in the chart below, which ranks industries as a percentage of the total PE platform acquisitions in Q1 & Q2 of 2022. Software represents 13% of all private equity platform acquisitions from our mid-year review. TOP 20 INDUSTRIES Software Healthcare Manufacturing Technology Financial Services Business Services Food & Beverage Distributors Digital Cybersecurity Manufacturing & Distribution Data E-commerce Education Consulting Service Media Sports Advisory Platforms Top 3 PE Firms Acquiring the ..read more

While the most prolific PE investment sectors for August 2022 were Manufacturing, Healthcare, and Software, we wanted to highlight some more specialized sectors this month as well. The trending (more specialized) private equity investment sectors for August 2022 were Advisory Platforms, Pharma-Contract Research, Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics and Fintech. Sample transactions for each category are highlighted below. Advisory Platforms Kelso & Company invested in WilliamsMarston (Boston, MA, US), an accounting advisory and management consulting firm. Core services include technical ..read more

Private equity firms have shown an increased interest in Advisory Services platforms over the past decade. Consistent with this trend, 2022 is on pace for a record year for PE firms investing in advisory services companies. Our M&A Research Database shows 194 historical platform investments (excluding add-ons) in the Advisory Services space. For this chart, Advisory Services includes: Financial advisory (41%) Digital advisory Technology advisory Management consulting Physical & cyber risk advisory Tax and business advisory Diversity & inclusion advisory Corporate g ..read more

The data table below compares monthly private equity transaction volume (investments and exits of portfolio company holdings) for the first half of 2021 and 2022. Source: www.PrivateEquityInfo.com PE Investments For January and February 2022, PE investment volume was largely unchanged from 2021. However, beginning in March, we see an abrupt reduction in PE platform acquisitions, corresponding to an increase in the Fed Funds rate and geopolitical uncertainty, primarily surrounding the war in Ukraine. For all six months in the first half of 2022, PE platform investments declined by 26% compared ..read more

We probed our Private Equity Database to determine the most active private equity investors in the Restaurant sector. Below are the Top 15 private equity firms investing in restaurants. Top PE Firms Investing in Restaurants Roark Capital Group (Atlanta, GA, US) Z Capital Partners (New York, NY, US) Brentwood Associates (Los Angeles, CA, US) L Catterton (Greenwich, CT, US) Garnett Station Partners (New York, NY, US) Tavistock Group (United States) Beekman Group, The (New York, NY, US) Alliance Consumer Growth (New York, NY, US) West Coast Capital (Chatsworth, CA, US) Valor Equity Partners (Chi ..read more

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for May 2022 showed 8.6% inflation over May 2021. But when we go shopping, buy groceries, and fill up the gas tank, it feels like more than the reported value… because it is. I recently posted an analysis on the underlying CPI data on my personal blog. Someone suggested the PrivateEquityInfo.com audience would also appreciate the content and insights. Consequently, here’s a link to my CPI analysis from my personal blog… WHY INFLATION FEELS LIKE IT’S MORE THAN REPORTED ..read more

The trending private equity investment sectors for May 2022 were Software, Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Business Services. Sample transactions for each category are highlighted below. Software Software – Cloud-Based Bow River Capital invested in ProductPlan (Santa Barbara, CA, US), a cloud-based product management platform. Software – Security Permira invested in Mimecast (London, UK), a provider of e-mail security software. The business is a comprehensive security platform with products including threat protection, E-mail continuity, archiving, awareness training, and web security. Software ..read more