Large-cap European PE cools down as smaller dealflow regains footing

Greg Gille
@unquotenews
03 April 2017

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The European buyout market was back to growth in volume terms in 2016, while an uncharacteristic dip in the overall amounts of capital deployed was the direct result of a cool-down at the upper end of the market. Greg Gille reports

It might turn out that 2015 was the odd year out after all. The previous edition of the Annual Buyout Review, looking at statistics for deals recorded between January and December 2015, pointed at a tendency for fewer, larger deals across Europe as the main driver behind the aggregate value of buyouts hitting an eight-year high. This trend was reversed last year: according to unquote” data, Europe was home to 734 sponsored buyouts in 2016 - a 14% year-on-year increase - but the overall enterprise value of these transactions declined by nearly €10bn compared to the €125.7bn clocked in 2015.

This drop in aggregate value was mainly driven by a slowdown in activity at the upper-end of the market. Deals valued in excess of €250m saw their numbers dwindle from 128 to 114, with most of that drop taking place in the €250m-1bn bracket. On the other hand the smaller market segments, and notably the core €50-250m mid-market space, were back to growth in both volume and value terms across Europe.

Click here to download the Executive Summary of the 2017 Annual Buyout Review, including full five-year statistics and in-depth data breakdowns