KPMG Pulse of Private Equity

What is this report about?

The KPMG Pulse of Private Equity offers a detailed analysis of global private equity trends and investments, captured through our methodology which is designed to cover all significant aspects of major PE deals.

In this quarter’s edition, we examine several global and regional trends.

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• Global PE investment remained above $1 trillion at the end of Q2’26, despite continued uncertainty and softer deal activity.
• Rolling twelve-month PE investment dipped only slightly from $2.4 trillion to $2.3 trillion, while deal volume fell from 21,060 to 20,105.
• The Americas led first-half investment with $579.2 billion, while EMA and ASPAC both saw modest increases in rolling twelve-month investment totals.
• Energy and natural resources attracted $149.2 billion in global PE investment in H1’26, while AI and data infrastructure remained a major area of investor interest.
• Global exit value showed more strength, with $570 billion at mid-year compared to $1.2 trillion during all of 2025.

There is cautious optimism for private equity investment in the EMA region heading into Q3 2026. While ongoing political and geopolitical tensions are expected to persist, investors anticipate that the market will continue to demonstrate resilience. A strengthening deal pipeline should support increased investment, particularly in AI and energy infrastructure, hardware, and industrial manufacturing. At the same time, deal activity is expected to remain focused and selective, with corporate carve-outs, take-private transactions, and other transformative opportunities continuing to drive activity through the second half of 2026.Exit activity is also expected to accelerate in the second half of the year, supported by the large volume of assets that have been prepared for sale.

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• At the end of Q1’26, announced PE deal volume globally was $436.4 billion across 4,168 deals.
• The rolling 12-month global PE investment results dipped slightly – from $2.2 trillion to $2.1 trillion; the decline in deal volume was more substantial – from 21,026 to 19,682.
• The Americas saw more than half of the global total of PE investment in Q1’26 ($247 billion), of which the US accounted for $228 billion.
• The EMA region saw $154.9 billion in PE deal value, while the ASPAC region saw $26.1 billion.
• During Q1’26, exit flow was $294.1 billion globally across 635 PE exits.