Report Monday, January 22, 2024

Private Equity & Transactions 2023

Inside the report

If 2021 was the all-time deal-making peak and 2022 brought instability and macro-economic tempests, what did 2023 bring?

After a bumper 2021 and then a challenging 2022,

2023

has been a more stable year for transactions in Consumer Goods.

In a difficult M&A context with sector market transaction values down by

23%

our Retail & Leisure activity has continued to flourish.

Within our Built Environment subsector, the focus on limited downside risk is clear, with various deals in utilities services likely to complete in early 2024.

The second half of 2023 saw large software deals come back in Europe, following the completion of a handful of

$1 billion +

deals in the early summer.

2023 saw modest recovery of investor confidence in consumer internet assets after the market corrections of 2022, although still short of the heady heights of 2021.

of

If 2021 was the all-time deal-making peak and 2022 brought instability and macro-economic tempests, what did 2023 bring?

Inflation was generally more pernicious than most had expected, and interest rates rose significantly in most countries throughout the first part of 2023, raising the cost of debt. Combined with economic uncertainty, this made buyers much more selective on what assets they looked at and cautious on valuations on those opportunities they did pursue. Consequently, completed deal activity across the market in H1 23 was well below that of the same period the previous year and remained muted for the rest of 2023.

Yet, we also see investors adapting to the changed deal-making environment. Buyers are focusing on high-quality assets with strong fundamentals (an important precursor to get past the higher levels of scrutiny from investment committees) – and placing greater emphasis on profitability rather than a sole focus on growth.

And while the macroeconomic environment may have not got much easier, investors have got greater clarity on how these dynamics are playing out and the implications for potential investments.

On the sell-side, we are seeing a greater focus on better and earlier exit preparation – to build and prove more robust value creation plans and to give options and flexibility on the timing and nature of exits.

What does 2024 have in store?

In a world that has been so uncertain and unstable over the last few years, we’d be cautious on making bold predictions for 2024 – geopolitics, the many national elections taking place this year and the future development trajectory of AI all inject substantial uncertainties into the outlook. But there are perhaps some encouraging signs from the taming of inflation, plateauing of interest rates and trajectory of increasing activity we see in the market.

Against this backdrop, we believe the need for depth and robustness in commercial insights to support investment decision-making remains at an all-time high – and we are ready to support our clients in meeting this challenge throughout 2024.

For sector insights and a snapshot of our 2023 Private Equity and Transactions activity see our latest report.

We would also be delighted to share our deep sector and topic expertise with you further on any of the areas highlighted here that are of interest. Simply email [email protected] or reach out to our team directly.

Key Contacts

Marc van der Goot

Marc van der Goot

Partner

Duncan Maud

Duncan Maud

Associate Partner

Bartek Krawczyk
Partner Image - Bartek

Bartek Krawczyk

Partner

Mark Blackwell

Mark Blackwell

Partner

Jeremy Barker

Jeremy Barker

Partner

Maurice Violani

Maurice Violani

Partner

Jean-Baptiste Brachet

Jean-Baptiste Brachet

Partner

Phil Hunt

Phil Hunt

Partner

Felicity Latcham

Felicity Latcham

Associate Partner

Stéphane Blanchard

Stéphane Blanchard

Partner

Teun van der Zijden

Teun van der Zijden

Partner

Christoph Treiber

Christoph Treiber

Partner

Ed Plummer

Ed Plummer

Partner

Christian Christodulopulos

Christian Christodulopulos

Partner

Alberto Regazzo

Alberto Regazzo

Partner

Nigel Stirk

Nigel Stirk

Partner

David de Matteis

David de Matteis

Partner

Daniel Wada

Daniel Wada

Senior Leadership

Tom Gladstone

Tom Gladstone

Partner

Mostyn Goodwin

Mostyn Goodwin

Partner

Pedro Sanches

Pedro Sanches

Partner

Jack Chuang

Jack Chuang

Partner

Pascal Martin

Pascal Martin

Partner

Coye Nokes

Coye Nokes

Partner

Justin Walters

Justin Walters

Partner

Chris Woodland

Chris Woodland

Partner

Suggested reports

View all reports

Thursday, February 16, 2023

Private Equity & Transactions 2022

A summary of 2022 Private Equity & Transactions activity by sector.
Read the report

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Investing in Winners

The world faces a monumental challenge over the next decade in order to avoid more than 1.5C of warming and there’s increasing recognition of...
Read the report

Thursday, February 17, 2022

Private Equity & Transactions 2021

2021 was a record year for transactions globally – as activity remained exceptionally strong despite the ongoing challenges of the COVID pandemic, global supply chain issues...
Read the report

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Private Equity & Transactions 2020

While 2020 was a turbulent year for the world, private equity activity remained very resilient – with the strong slowdown in activity in Q2 as...
Read the report