2026 Global Private Equity Outlook
Strong year-over-year gains in buyout and exit values are steadily fueling GPs’ confidence in private equity’s trajectory over the next 12 months, even amid evolving U.S. trade policies, political stasis in key European markets and a complex geopolitical backdrop. Produced in partnership with Mergermarket, the eighth edition of Dechert’s Global Private Equity Outlook highlights how GPs are finding ways to unlock liquidity and help investors seize opportunities as a gradual thaw continues to transform the PE landscape.
Key Findings
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At a glance
is the 2025 return estimate from EMEA and North American respondents, while APAC respondents estimate a slightly higher 17.4%.
17.1%
of respondents have a co-investment program.
52%
of respondents are expanding into additional investment strategies to mitigate fundraising pressures.
64%
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PRIVATE
EQUITY
PRIVATE
CREDIT
PRIVATE
FUNDS
LEVERAGED
FINANCE
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
How we can help
Sabina Comis
Fund finance is now a fundamental part of the GP toolbox and a very efficient way to inject more liquidity into a fund or indirectly into a deal. The initial increase in the use of fund finance was in response to tighter liquidity, but now that GPs and LPs have become more used to it, it is here to stay.”
Maria Tan Pedersen
The environment remains challenging but there are deals to be done. GPs are being more selective about the deals they pursue and are being more creative and thoughtful when structuring those deals to work around valuation gaps.”
Markus Bolsinger
Looking forward, I expect that deal activity will continue to increase, but it will be a gentle thaw rather than everyone jumping in at the same time.”
73%
48%
57%
of respondents expect at least 10% of their next fund to come from retail investors.
of GPs are using private credit for refinancing and recaps at the portfolio level.
of GPs favored earnouts to help close valuation gaps. In APAC, that number rose to 60%.
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Signs of a Gradual Thaw
*Based on insights from a survey of 100 senior-level PE executives across North America, EMEA and APAC.
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47% of survey participants expect a negative impact from the “politicization” of merger control enforcement.
75% of survey participants expect to invest in life sciences (including healthcare) over the next 24 months, while 74% intend to invest in technology.
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77% of survey participants plan to make a GP-stake divestiture in the next 24 months – double the proportion that had these plans a year ago.
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46% of respondents are utilizing GP-led secondaries or continuation vehicles (CVs) to facilitate distributions to existing LPs and mitigate potential fundraising challenges in the absence of traditional asset selloffs – almost double the number of respondents than in last year’s survey.
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36% of respondents expect fund finance to increase in the next 12-18 months. One year ago only 2% anticipated an increase.
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49% of respondents cite geopolitical conflicts as a broad macroeconomic factor expected to have one of the biggest influences on the deal environment over the coming 12-18 months. At a regional level, however, 65% of EMEA executives see them as one of the main challenges to dealmaking, compared to only 30% of APAC respondents.
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Nick Tomlinson
It does feel like the deal markets across key jurisdictions are getting back on track. After a strong start to 2025, buyouts did take pause to digest U.S. tariff announcements, but deal processes are back underway, and I would expect to see deal announcements rise through the rest of 2025 and into 2026.”
