Q3 Barometer: Mid-market proves resilient

Despite European private equity activity over the three months to September showing a decline, this most recent period shows a level of resilience when compared with previous drops.

The number of transactions slipped by 17% and deal value dropped by almost 20% from the second quarter, from €23.7bn to €19bn. However, looking back at performance since the start of 2013, European private equity activity levels are consistent in their inconsistency, with quarterly aggregate deal value persistently shifting by a least €6bn, making this quarter's €4.7bn dip seem less severe. Indeed, it pales in comparison to the dramatic falls of Q1 and Q3 2013 (of €15.6bn and €11.63bn respectively).

Drilling down into the buyout segment, overall deal numbers fell by 25% from 132 transactions recorded in Q2 to 109 in the most recent quarter. Aggregate value dropped by 23%, from Q2's €21.5bn to €16.6bn in the most recent quarter.

On a country level, the volume and value of buyouts in France has slumped to a two-year low of just 12 deals worth €1.3bn, a significant fall from Q2's 22 transactions worth a total €5.8bn.

German buyout activity was also subdued in the most recent quarter, dropping from 19 deals worth €7bn in Q2 to just seven deals worth €320m in Q3.

However, the UK buyout market has held strong with between 45 and 47 deals recorded in each of the last five quarters. There has been more movement in terms of value of around €5bn over this 15 month period, but has kept above €3bn in each quarter, and in the most recent three month period rose 25% to close to €5bn.

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All data is sourced from unquote" data, unquote's proprietary database. To conduct your own searches on pan-European private equity trends, visit unquotedata.com

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