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Chart of the Week
Sep 26, 2025
2 MIN READ

Large PE funds shift toward public markets

New
Over half of global private equity deals year to date (YTD) have involved public investments, as mega-funds increasingly go public, just when investors are seeking private alternatives.
authors
Christopher Bole
Christopher Bole
Vice President, Financial Writer
VIEW BIO
Global private equity deal composition (share by acquisition target)
Source: Preqin. Bloomberg Finance, L.P. Data as of June 30, 2025. Investment in public assets includes take-private transactions, PIPE deals and carve-outs/spinoffs at 75% of reported volume.
  • Capital is increasingly concentrating among the largest private equity (PE) firms, which often target deals exceeding $1 billion in total enterprise value due to their scale.
  • To deploy these war chests, many large PE managers are expanding into public markets. Over the past five years, investments in public companies (including both full take-privates and carve-outs of divisions) have more than doubled as a share of global PE deal volume, from 25% to 53%.1
  • Competing in public markets means contending with today’s historically high valuations. Take-private deals generally require a buyer to pay an acquisition premium of around 30% on top of valuations that are already well above those in traditional private transactions.
  • As a result, purchase price multiples for take-privates have ranged from 1.5x to 4.5x the median U.S. buyout.1
  • In contrast, the core and lower middle market may offer investors growth at reasonable prices. Middle market revenues have grown 10.7% year over year, while purchase multiples have been approximately 25% lower than those for large take-privates.
contributing authors
Christopher Bole
Christopher Bole
Vice President, Financial Writer
view bio
footnotes + disclosures
  1. Preqin. Bloomberg Finance, L.P. Data as of June 30, 2025. Investment in public assets includes take-private transactions, PIPE deals and carve-outs/spinoffs at 75% of reported volume.

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