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Buyout rankings: who has invested most across Europe since April?

Identifying the most active investors
Which GPs were most active during the coronavirus turmoil?
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Unquote tallies the top 10 most active GPs across the European buyout space amid the coronavirus turmoil.

Buyout activity took a battering in the second quarter of the year, as most countries across Europe went into strict lockdowns and GPs focused on bolstering their existing portfolios.

Nevertheless, buoyed by significant war chests built up over a prolific period of fundraising in the past three years, a number of GPs remained active and started inking more deals towards the end of Q2.

The third quarter also marked somewhat of a return to form for the European buyout space, based in part on sustained deployment efforts by the firms highlighted in the tables below. According to Unquote Data, the number of European buyouts jumped to 239 from 153 in Q2, nearly matching the Q1 volume of 248 deals. Aggregate value amounted to €40.6bn, a sharp increase from the meagre €18.3bn seen in Q2, but still slightly subdued compared to the €56.4bn recorded in the same period last year.

Methodology: the following tables display the volume and aggregate enterprise value of buyouts announced between 1 April 2020 (as the majority of deals announced in March 2020 would have been negotiated, and often signed, pre-coronavirus) and 5 November 2020. In the volume ranking table, GPs with the same volume of deals were sorted by the aggregate value of these investments, in descending order. Aggregate values are based on both publicly disclosed and estimated deal valuations. All data is sourced from Unquote Data.

Top 10 most active GPs by number of investments

Click on the GP's name to access their full profile on Unquote Data, including a list of their recent deals.

GP Deal volume Est. value of deals (€m)
BPI France 11 382
EQT 7 7,860
Ardian 7 3,990
KKR 5 5,162
Waterland Private Equity 5 321
Siparex Group 5 159
Callista Private Equity 5 107
Warburg Pincus 4 3,095
Carlyle Group 4 2,261
IK Investment Partners 4 1,506


Note: a number of GPs were tied on four transactions each, before the sorting by aggregate value was applied. Other firms that inked four buyout deals across the period include Towerbrook Capital Partners, Nordic Capital, Verdane, Nord Holding, Mutares, Lafayette Capital Partners and Levine Leichtman.

Top 10 most active GPs by aggregate value of investments

Click on the GP's name to access their full profile on Unquote Data, including a list of their recent deals.

GP Est. value of deals (€m) Deal volume
EQT 7,860 7
TDR Capital 7,466 1
KKR 5,162 5
Permira 5,004 3
Ardian 3,990 7
TA Associates 3,779 3
CVC Capital Partners 3,690 2
BC Partners 3,600 1
Warburg Pincus 3,095 4
Bridgepoint 2,300 2


All data sourced from Unquote Data as of 5 November 2020. If you would like to bring transactions to our attention, please get in touch

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