98% of U.S. PE Funds Closed in Q1 Either Hit or Exceeded Target In the first quarter of 2016, 71 U.S. PE funds closed on a total of $51.8 billion in capital commitments. Of those 71 vehicles, no less than 98% either hit or exceeded their target. This proportion is unprecedented, even by the standards…

The Bigger, the Better: Private Equity Funds Still Trending Upward in Size Although there is a fair amount of quarterly variance in median private equity fund sizes, there has been a distinct trend upward since the end of 2013, with the closing quarter of 2015 cresting at just over $300 million across all PE fund…

As Investment Activity Slows, Competition for Quality Remains Fierce As March winds down, the first quarter of 2016 currently has seen around 700 private equity deals close in the U.S. Taking the total as 700, that completed deal count represents a drop of nearly 29% from the tally of 4Q 2015, which itself saw the…

Will Net Cash Flows Decline for PE Fund Investors? Since 2010, there has been a markedly recurrent yearly increase in total distributions to investors in private equity funds. This increase, as well as relatively plateaued contributions, has produced a significantly positive net cash flow for global PE funds. Through the first half of 2015, net…

PE funds from Recent Vintages Outpacing Those Hit by Financial Crisis The ramifications of the financial crisis are still apparent in the numbers posted by private equity funds. Let’s take DPI multiples as a sample metric for now; for vintages most affected by the crisis—2005, 2006 and 2007, as indicated above—the deleterious effects… Subscribe to

How Will Competition Among Fund Managers Affect Future Industry Performance Disparity? Post-recession private equity funds experienced a tightening of IRR spreads across several different vintages, as fund managers of all tiers weathered the economic downturn. 2010 and more recent vintages, however, have seen a widening of the spread…. Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a member? Log

PE’s Other Overhang For several years now, the increase in the inventory of companies backed by private equity in North America and Europe has essentially plateaued. In stark contrast to the steady ramp-up in inventory during the buyout boom era, this trend can be ascribed to a few key drivers, including the healthy exit… Subscribe

How much longer will the M&A boom sustain PE exits? The M&A boom has been very kind to private equity sellers. Last year saw PE sellers close over 1,200 sales to strategic buyers, with total value just eclipsing $360 billion. That leaves the past three years at a total of $963 billion in total value…

2015 Sees U.S. PE Fundraisers Slow Down U.S. private equity fund managers have had a fair measure of success lately. Last year, the median time it took a fund to close was 12.8 months, one of the shorter times on record, while over 87% of funds raised hit their target, for the second year in…

28% of U.S. PE Capital Overhang Predates 2013 Vintages Over a quarter of U.S. private equity dry powder is locked up in vintages from 2012 or earlier. That represents about $147 billion total that PE firms have on hand that now exceeds, give or take, three or more years in age—all these figures are sourced…