The State of European Private Equity Report H2 2025 (Gain.pro)

Summary

• PE entries are expected to be up 9% yoy in 2025, and North American investors now account for 30% of all entries over €10m in EBITDA, up from 21% in 2018.p.2
• The median company exiting in 2025 spent 5.7 years in the portfolio, up from 4.6 years in 2020, and a third of assets stayed longer than 7 years.p.2
• Services (25%), Industrials (21%) and TMT (19%) together accounted for over two-thirds of all new PE entries.p.2
• The median PE-backed business grew 9.1% in 2024, down from 11.3% in 2023 and 19.5% in 2022, while EBITDA margins are stable at 11.4% versus 11.0% in 2017.p.2
• Exit activity in 2025 is expected to stabilize with 4% year-over-year growth.p.19
• PE-backed businesses with over 5 acquisitions grew at a 5-year CAGR of 19.8% compared with 7.4% for businesses with no acquisitions.p.14

Key insights

1. Entries in DACH (-28%), CEE (-24%) and Benelux (-20%) lag versus 2021, while Iberia (+27%), Italy (+10%) and France (+7%) show stronger momentum.p.7
2. The share of TMT in PE entries has increased by 10pp, while Consumer has come down by 12pp.p.5
3. Sponsor-to-sponsor (40%) and family-to-sponsor (41%) transactions account for the largest share of PE entries.p.8
4. 53% of PE-backed entries in France were minority stakes, compared with just 20% in DACH.p.10
5. North American investors account for a larger share of entries in Financial Services (42%) and TMT (31%).p.12
6. A third of PE assets stayed longer than 7 years in the portfolio, up from 21% in 2020/21.p.20
7. Assets that grow faster than 25% revenue CAGR sell at a ~50% premium to those growing slower than 5%.p.29
8. Services is the largest sector for add-ons at 39% of deals, followed by TMT (18%) and Industrials (13%).p.16
9. PE-backed businesses in Europe employ nearly 8 million people.p.36