Fundraising at PEs is going through the roof, closing deals not so much

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In the first quarter of 2024, the value of European PE deals fell for the second consecutive quarter. The value for leveraged buyouts decreased as a result of the high interest rates, reports data agency PitchBook. That is already the second quarter in a row.

The biggest deal was towards the end of the first quarter: KKR’s 2.8 billion euro takeover bid for the German electricity and energy producer Encavis.

According to PitchBook, this deal illustrates the growing number of deals in the sustainable energy sector. According to the data agency, half of the total value of the exits consisted of several mega deals.

PitchBook draws attention to a number of IPOs in the DACH region: those of Galderma, Douglas and Renk. In the future, these quotations will be regarded as an indicator of the willingness this year to take companies to the stock exchange.

What went well in the first quarter was fundraising for acquisitions. Private equity firms have already raised half of what they raised in the entire previous year. EQT raised 22 billion euros for its tenth fund last quarter and Cinven managed to raise 14.5 billion for its eighth fund. At the end of the quarter, Bi Apax Partners stood at eleven billion for fund XI.