Returns healthy, still under pressure Download PitchBook’s Report here. TVPI multiples—more simply known as investment multiples—remain healthy. Gains from post-vintage buckets (2010-2016) were all boosted by at least 0.08x over the past twelve months, with 2015 vintages leading the way with an overall boost of 0.16x....

Acacia funds Download PitchBook’s Report here. Acacia trees are those huge, canopy-like trees in Africa that giraffes feast on. It helps to be that tall—there’s virtually no competition to eat the leaves. Sheer size in private equity brings similar advantages, as only mega funds can compete for certain deals....

Are IRRs inflated? Download PitchBook’s Report here. It’s a slightly different question than asking whether IRRs are trustworthy in general. That debate has been around for years and will continue to be. The inflation question is being asked a bit louder nowadays, thanks to a renewed focus on subscription credit lines....

Downturn opportunities don’t last long Bain & Company released its annual private equity report this week. It’s required reading for the industry every year. One of their more salient points is the resiliency of purchase price multiples following downturns. In the two-year window between 2009 and 2011,...

Are dry powder levels a concern? Download PitchBook’s Report here. PE capital overhang levels reached $800 billion last year between North America and Europe. For perspective, the buyout boom overhang peaked in 2008 at $599 billion. The cumulative weight of today’s dry powder isn’t the only difference between eras, however....

Bigger funds and lower margins Download PitchBook’s Report here. Over 90% of 2018 vintage PE funds were larger than their predecessors. That’s the first time in more than ten years that percentage has crept above 90%, the last being 2006.Opportunism is certainly at play, though its much more modest this time around....

The institutionalization of M&A Download PitchBook’s Report here. Last week we highlighted the growing convergence of public and private multiples. For investors who dabble in both markets, there’s a baked-in assumption of a private market discount, since money tied up in buyout funds is illiquid, partially justified by cheaper entry prices and higher returns....

Public and private valuations are converging Download PitchBook’s Report here. Middle-market PE multiples barely budged last year. We didn’t expect them to, and we don’t expect them to come down much in the near-term either, barring some significant macro development.2018 marked the sixth consecutive year with double-digit purchase price multiples,...

Another record year for the middle market Download PitchBook’s Report here. The US middle market had quite the year. Both volume and total value easily set records by year, and the quarterly totals were even more impressive. All four quarters saw more than $100 billion invested—not only the first time that’s happened, but those are the

Drawdown speeds and fund returns Download PitchBook’s Report here. US PE fundraising trended down in 2018. No surprise there—more than $200 billion was cumulatively raised in both 2016 and 2017, totaling nearly $442 billion altogether in the span of two years. As we’ve noted in the past, the current fundraising market bears a hint of opportunism,