H1 2023 European Private Equity Activity (Invest Europe)

Summary

• Preliminary H1 2023 fundraising figures for Europe reached €32.9bn, marking a 60% drop compared to the revised H1 2022 figure.p.8
• A total of 370 funds completed fundraising in H1 2023, reflecting a 15% decrease compared to the past 5 years average of all half years.p.8
• European companies received €32.0bn in equity investments in H1 2023, representing a 54% decline compared to revised 2022 figures.p.8
• Venture Capital investments totaled €5.8bn in H1 2023, declining 49% compared to the same period in 2022.p.8
• Buyout investments reached €19.8 billion in H1 2023, representing a 50% decrease from the same period in 2022.p.8
• Growth investments reached €6.0bn in H1 2023, experiencing a 66% investment decline compared to H1 2022.p.8
• Divestments at cost for H1 2023 reached €9.3bn, representing a 42% decline compared to H1 2022.p.8

Key insights

1. Business products and services surpassed ICT to become the sector attracting the most buyout investments in H1 2023 at 23% of the total.p.8
2. ICT remained the primary sector choice for Growth investments in H1 2023, accounting for 25% of the total.p.8
3. Trade sale and sale to another private equity firm remained the most common divestment routes, together representing 71% of the amount divested at cost in H1 2023.p.8
4. Buyout stage divestments represented the largest portion of total divested amount by initial stage, reaching €6.5bn at cost in H1 2023.p.8
5. Venture stage divestments amounted to less than €1bn in H1 2023.p.8
6. Invest Europe members manage 60% of the European private equity and venture capital industry's €1,004 billion of capital under management.p.3
7. Businesses backed by private capital investment employ 10.5 million people across Europe, representing 4.5% of the region's workforce.p.3