Quarterly Deals

In Q1 2026, the volume of completed PE transactions dropped while overall deal value rose.

Not only are fourth quarters usually stronger, they are usually the strongest quarter of their years. This was not the case in 2025.

Sources told PE Hub they expected an uptick in deals in the second half – the latest numbers suggest that optimism was warranted.

Tariff turmoil took a considerable toll on completed PE transactions.

Some of the biggest deals that closed in Q1 were in the TMT sector: Silver Lake bought Endeavor for about $10bn; IBM bought HashiCorp for $8.1bn; Blackstone and Vista bought Smartsheet for $7.9bn.

Every quarter in 2024 was better than the last. M&A ended the year on a strong, positive note, with the industrials and TMT sectors representing a bulk of the dealmaking.

A look at private equity deals by quarter.

Q2 sees 127 announced PE deals vs. 75 in Q1; dollar volume also spikes Tech produces highest number of closed transactions TPG among most active in tech, supported by 3 funds with 3 different mandates A high-price environment hasn’t stopped traditional private equity firms from finding new investments, with sponsor-led dealmaking in tech fueling a […]

First half of 2016 trails in deal volume; dollar volume up U.S. sponsor M&A totals $96 bln in first half of 2016 Q2 add-on deals proliferate With U.S. sponsors facing choppier credit markets and higher purchase-price multiples, GPs opted to buy more add-on businesses for their portfolio companies rather than launch new platforms in the second […]