Cash-rich private equity firms are pouring money into smaller transactions following the collapse of a string of big deals, with the total value of investments of $1bn or less surging to a record this year.
According to data provider Refinitiv, private equity buyouts and investments with a price tag below $500m are also at a record, and now account for more than 30 per cent of the industry’s dealmaking by value, the highest level in almost a decade.
Attention this year has focused on a handful of blockbuster transactions, including Blackstone’s $18.7bn takeover of the US warehouses portfolio of Singapore-based GLP, and EQT’s $10.1bn purchase of Nestle’s skincare unit. But several deals, such as Apollo’s planned $15bn purchase of metals group Arconic, collapsed after months of negotiations, highlighting the difficulty associated with big take-privates.