Western Europe Private Equity Report: Q2 2023
Private equity buyout activity is picking up in Western Europe, but lagging North America.
What's Included
Western Europe Market Update
- Western Europe Buyout Activity
- Value of Western Europe Buyouts
- Average Western Europe Buyout
- YoY Growth of Western Europe Buyouts
Western Europe Sector Trends
- Western Europe Buyout Activity by Sector
- Value of Western Europe Buyouts by Sector
- Average Western Europe Buyout by Sector
- YoY Growth of Western Europe Buyouts by Sector
Key Findings
Europe's Lagging Recovery: Western Europe holds the second spot in global buyout activity in Q2 2023, yet its recovery pace trails behind North America due to geopolitical challenges and inflation pressures.
Several Large Deals: Despite slower dealmaking, Western Europe pulled in a hefty $84.1 billion in buyout dollars, edging out North America by $12 billion.
Bucking the Size Trend: While the world leans towards smaller deals, Western Europe saw an impressive 3.5x surge in average deal size, spotlighting several standout transactions.
The Services Sector Surprise: Tech continues to rule in buyout counts, but the services sector stole the show in investment, marking a dramatic departure from its decade-long position.
Market Update
Western Europe ranked second globally for buyout activity in Q2 2023 with 610 buyouts in the region. North America’s lead in buyout activity is widening over Western Europe as European dealmaking hasn’t recovered as quickly as other regions since the Q4 2022 lows in the most-recent economic cycle.
In fact, the collective “Rest of World’ cohort of regions which includes Asia, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa may actually exceed Western Europe for buyout activity later this year, according to recent trends.
Geopolitical instability in Europe is undoubtedly weighing on dealmaking in the region, as is inflation which is higher in some European countries than other established economies.
Although buyout activity isn’t growing as quickly in Western Europe as in other parts of the world, buyout dollars deployed still remains very strong in the region.
Western Europe attracted $84.1 billion of private equity investment last quarter, which is actually $12 billion more than was deployed in North America. However, the spike in buyout dollars in Western Europe may be an outlier as the region is coming off two consecutive quarters of 10-year lows in buyout dollars deployed.
