PitchBook-2023年一季度美国PE中等市场报告（英）-2023.6-29页_7mb

US PE Middle Market Q1 2023 Report Summary

Executive Summary

• Middle-market private equity (PE) funds outperformed megafunds with a 917 basis point gap in median one-year horizon returns, the widest margin since 2016.
• The share of all PE buyouts in the middle market rose to 75.6%, the highest back-to-back reading in five years.
• Deal activity in Q1 2023 saw a 12.8% decline in count and 3.5% in value compared to the previous quarter, with overall market volumes declining sharply.

Key Trends in Deal Activity

• Total middle-market buyout deals: 803, with a deal value of $107.4 billion.
• Sectors: Technology and healthcare deal activity slowed due to high interest rates; B2B and B2C sectors remained strong.
• Founder-owned businesses and public-to-private deals increased in吸引力, driven by lower valuations and financing opportunities.
• Deal multiples decreased: Median EV/EBITDA stood at 10.8x, reflecting a correction after peak levels.

Exit Activity

• Exit count and value dropped significantly, declining by 22.6% QoQ and 15.1%, respectively, with only 142 exits aggregating $28.3 billion.
• Strategic buyers accounted for 54.8% of exit value, while other sponsors took 45.2%.
• IPOs remained inactive due to a poor market environment.

Fundraising Performance

• Fundraising surged, with $49.9 billion raised across 38 funds, a 70.3% YoY increase.
• Middle-market funds captured 51.4% of total fund closings by count and 88.2% by value, signaling LP fatigue with megafunds.
• Fund sizes increased, with a Q1 median of $848.0 million, supporting continued momentum.

Outlook

• Conditions favor the middle market despite economic headwinds; performance advantage is expected to persist if financing stabilizes.
• Dry powder remained robust, supporting opportunistic deal activity at reasonable valuations.