In this edition of the Paul, Weiss Private Equity Digest, we review private equity M&A market trends from 2017 and look ahead to 2018.
In the private equity market for the end of 2017:
- While the number of funds significantly decreased from November (21) to December (12), the total dollar value raised increased from $17.47 billion in November to $21.12 billion in December.
- With respect to U.S. sponsor-backed exits, the total value decreased, from $55.7 billion in November to $42.0 billion in December, while the number of exits increased marginally from November (80) to December (82).
- While sponsor-related M&A activity in the United States, as measured by dollar volume, increased steadily from November ($32.0 billion) to December ($42.5 billion), global sponsor-related M&A activity increased dramatically, from $51.6 billion in November to $87.0 billion in December. By contrast, as measured by the number of deals, December saw a decrease in sponsor-related M&A activity in the United States (from 178 in November to 134 in December) and globally (from 355 in November to 295 in January).
