12x the rest of the year? Download PitchBook’s Report here. Two quarters into 2019 and buyout multiples remain above 12x on a median basis, according to PitchBook’s recently released PE Breakdown Report. Quarterly readings from 2015 to early 2016 were in the 9.5x to 10.5x range, with multiples gradually building over time. Though high, investors have

Exits are way down Private equity’s mid-year report card includes many of the same headwinds and tailwinds we’ve discussed in the past. One big one stands out. According to our US PE Breakdown Report, to be released this Friday, PE-backed exits had a very slow first half. Timing often plays a role—the rush to get

Mega-funds aren’t what they used to be Download PitchBook’s Report here. It seems remarkable now, but in 2006, PE mega-funds (of over $5B) had almost ten years of cash on hand to invest at that year’s investment pace. A decade of dry powder is a lot, even for private equity. To see the average drop down

Breaking down the latest in private equity fund performance Download PitchBook’s Report here. Private equity has had banner decade by multiple metrics. As mentioned in last week’s edition of the Lead Left in this column, cash flows are still trending positively, contributing to likely another banner year for fundraising across the industry. Delving more deeply, it’s

Eight consecutive years in the black? Download PitchBook’s Report here. Private equity net cash flows are on pace for an eighth consecutive year in positive territory. Through Q3 2018 (the most recent data available), net cash flows (the difference between contributions and distributions) remained just above $100 billion. One more quarter’s worth of data to sift

GP stakes fundraising starting to boom Download PitchBook’s Report here. An awaited flood of GP stakes fundraising is starting to take shape. The funds currently in the market will eventually amass more capital for the strategy than the past decade combined, according to our recently released analyst note. The majority of those raises will be housed

PE alpha isn’t what it used to be Download PitchBook’s Report here. We tend to think of PE’s halcyon days as 2005-07, the dealmaking and fundraising bonanza years right before the music stopped. Industry players who have been around long enough probably remember better times and slightly better numbers. The industry is certainly much bigger and

Public firms have always been busier Download PitchBook’s Report here. We mentioned last week that the flagship funds of public PE firms are now bigger than they were pre-crisis, while the same (mostly) can’t be said for private firms. The cynic might point out the obvious, that public firms are incentivized to raise more money because

Public versus private The private equity industry has matured quite a bit over the years. The most visible marker is the handful of firms that have gone public, despite the public market’s difficulty in valuing the complex, variable cash flows that are inseparable from the PE model....

Why are add-ons getting so much bigger? Download PitchBook’s Report here. The median add-on size almost doubled in the span of two years. The $41 million median seen in 2016 ballooned to $76 million last year, an 86% difference. At first glance, it looks like platform deal sizes have gone up much more rapidly, but charts