European PE firms pivoted away from large buyout deals in the first six months of the year, amid a slowdown in debt markets and uncertainty over valuations, to focus on their buy-and-build strategies, according to a report by Private Equity News.
The report cites data from CMBOR, the Centre for Private Equity and MBO Research based at Nottingham University Business School, as revealing that bolt-on activity in terms of number of deals hit its third-highest H1 figure on record in the first sixth months of 2023, with 369 acquisitions made by PE-owned portfolio companies.
The cumulative value of these deals though, has plateaued and is on par with the corresponding period last year at €1.5bn, while average deal value of €4.1m is up on H1 2022’s figure of €3.2m.
