Q4’25 Pulse of Private Equity

Explore the Q4’25 regional insights

In Q4’25, global PE-announced 19,093 transactions amounting to $2.1T.

Global highlights of Q4’25

Global PE investment rises to US$2.1 trillion in 2025, up from $1.8 trillion in 2024.
Volume falls from 20,836 deals in 2024 to 19,093 in 2025.
Global PE exit value totaled $1.3 trillion in 2025, marking the second-highest annual level in the past decade, trailing only 2021.

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Spotlight: Outlook for the global private equity market in 2026

At the end of our first year of the Pulse of Private Equity, we wanted not only to reflect on the trends that shaped 2025, but also to look ahead and assess how the private equity market may evolve in 2026. To support this forward-looking view, KPMG — working with PitchBook — developed a 2026 Global private equity forecast grounded in more than a decade of historical data and informed by both macroeconomic and structural market dynamics.

Here is what we’re expecting in 2026:

Investment growth will outpace growth in deal volume
Macroeconomic conditions will stabilize or improve in many regions, supporting more aggressive dealmaking
Exits will rise
Increasing focus on infrastructure and energy opportunities
Soft, highly concentrated fundraising activity

Download the report for the full spotlight and to read our detailed analysis.

Global PE deal value rises to $2.1 trillion despite soft volume

PE investment globally rose from $1.8 trillion to a four-year high of $2.1 trillion in 2025 despite a decline in deal volume from 20,836 deals to 19,093. The contrast reflects how PE investors across regions prioritized large, high-quality deals over deal quantity throughout the year.

Americas sees over half of global PE funding in 2025, with the US accounting for the majority

PE investment in the Americas accounted for more than half of the total seen globally, with $1.2 trillion invested across 9,118 deals Total investment in the region came quite close to the peak of $1.4 trillion seen during 2021 — a year previously viewed as a major outlier — despite deal volume falling to a five-year low. The US alone accounted for $1.1 trillion of this investment and for 8,232 deals.

The EMA region came a distant second, attracting a very robust $729.8 billion across 8,278 PE deals during 2025 — a solid uptick compared to the $646.3 billion seen in 2024 despite a significant decline from 8,922 deals to 8,278 deals year-over-year. At the same time, the ASPAC region saw PE investment rise slightly from $142.1 billion across 1,318 deals in 2024 to $144.8 billion across 1,162 PE deals in 2025.

A number of jurisdictions attract large PE deals in Q4’25

During Q4’25, the US accounted for a majority of the largest announced PE deals, including the $18.3 billion take private of US-based medical device company Hologic by Blackstone and TPG¹ and the take private of food packaging company Sealed Air by CD&R for $10.3 billion.²In the EMA region, the largest deals announced in Q4’25 included the $9 billion buyout of a majority stake of Germany-based surface coatings solutions company BASF Coatings by The Carlyle Group and the Qatar Investment Authority³ and the buyout of UK-based Utmost Life & Pensions’ bulk purchase annuity business to Jab Insurance for $6.6 billion.⁴In the ASPAC region, the largest PE deal during the fourth quarter was the announced sale of a 65 percent stake in Japan-based vehicle lubricants company BP Castrol to Stonepeak for $6 billion.⁵

Among the top ten announced deals during the fourth quarter, one deal came from outside the three spotlight regions — the $7 billion buyout of specialty insurer Convex Insurance by Onex and AIG.⁶

Trends to watch for in Q1’26

Heading into 2026, private equity sentiment is cautiously optimistic. As valuation gaps continue to narrow and the U.S. IPO market - while selective - shows openness to high-quality, resilient assets, exit volumes are expected to gradually improve. Stronger exit activity should, in turn, help rebuild investor confidence and support increased investment levels.

With a record $1.7 trillion in dry powder at the end of 2025, easing financing conditions, and a growing inventory of assets needing to be exited, PE firms will be under pressure to deploy capital. Investment activity is expected to remain strong, particularly across AI-related infrastructure and energy, as well as healthcare and financial services. Continued government funding in AI, infrastructure, and defense is likely to further reinforce these trends.

Fundraising, however, is expected to remain subdued in 2026. The significant capital already in the market and ongoing pressure to return capital to LPs will likely limit new fund formation, with capital increasingly concentrated among larger, more diversified firms. Smaller funds may face growing challenges raising follow-on vehicles, increasing the risk of prolonged capital stagnation across parts of the market.

Globally, we’ve continued to see PE investors focusing on returning money to their investors over deploying capital. Despite the wealth of dry powder, they can’t easily deploy without demonstrating the ability to return capital anymore. And this is where investors are being creative — looking more at take privates and add-ons to create value.

Gavin Geminder

Global Head of Private Equity

KPMG International