The State of European Private Equity H1 2026 (Gain.pro)

Summary

• PE entry activity in Europe made a comeback in 2025, up 8% year-over-year.p.2
• 2025 saw 96 €1bn+ PE exits, up from 75 in 2024.p.2
• The median company exiting in 2025 spent 5.7 years in the portfolio, up from 4.7 years in 2020.p.2
• Multiples flatlined in 2025, with a median of 10.7x.p.2
• The number of larger PE entries (>€1bn EV) surged 49% in 2025, faster than the overall market's 8% growth rate.p.7
• Exit activity in 2025 was up 5% year-over-year, the second consecutive year of improvement.p.18
• Add-on deal activity increased by 5% YoY as buy-and-build remained the key strategy.p.31

Key insights

1. Sponsor-to-sponsor deals accounted for 62% of PE entries over €10m in EBITDA, up from 57% in 2022.p.5
2. France has the highest share of sponsor-to-sponsor activity at 74% of all deals, well above the 61% European average.p.6
3. North American investors account for 36% of large-cap transactions (>€50m EBITDA) but only 10% of small-cap (<€10m EBITDA).p.9
4. Services (25%), Industrials (20%) and TMT (19%) together account for about two thirds of PE entries.p.11
5. 53% of PE-backed entries in France were minority stakes, compared with just 18% in DACH.p.16
6. The median holding period for PE assets that exited in 2025 was 5.7 years, up from 4.6 years in 2019.p.20
7. Doubling your money in 2 years delivers a 41% IRR, while tripling it in 8 years yields only 15% IRR.p.21
8. The share of sponsor-to-sponsor exits increased to 44%, up from 42% in 2022, while strategic exits still account for the largest share at 50%.p.26
9. PE-backed businesses with over 5 acquisitions grew at a 5-year CAGR of 20% compared to 7% for businesses with no acquisitions.p.31
10. Add-on targets are about 10% cheaper to buy than platform deals, but add-on multiples increased to 10.0x over the last two years.p.32