Bain & Company’s 2024 Midyear Report highlights that private equity deal trends are starting to stabilize, showing a glimmer of hope for increased exit deal activity in 2025.
The depressed deal activity of the last two years has led to slower than expected fund distributions to investors and this has added further stress to private equity firms’ fundraising efforts.
While the backlog for private equity-backed company exits clears, funds are facing more nuanced negotiations about closing and new operational risks and burdens.
Today, at least one in five buyout funds is closing under its target (a ratio that is likely to go up before it comes down), and it’s not uncommon for funds to miss those objectives by over 20%.
