After a few years of muted deal activity and fundraising, 2025 saw a meaningful rebound in global private equity (PE) deal value, up 19 percent. The boost was primarily driven by a 27 percent increase in buyout deal value, note McKinsey’s Alexander Edlich, Chris Llewellyn, Christopher Croke, Rahel Schneider, and Warren Teichner. The total number of PE deals declined by 9 percent, indicating a market shift toward fewer but larger transactions. New highs in deal value, coupled with simultaneous declines in deal count, reflect the careful navigation of last year’s shifting geopolitical and trade environments, leading to more cautious underwriting and deal timing.
Image description:
A set of side-by-side stacked area charts analyze global private equity markets from 2016 to 2025. The left chart shows 3 segments: venture (dark blue, bottom), buyout (medium blue, middle), and growth (light blue, top). Deal value peaked at approximately $3.0 trillion in 2021, declined to around $1.8 trillion in 2023, then recovered to $2.5 trillion in 2025, representing a 19% total increase from 2024-25. Venture deals increased 27%, while buyout growth was 20% year-over-year.
The right chart displays the same 3 segments. Deal count peaked at approximately 78 million transactions in 2021, then declined to roughly 55 million in 2025, representing a 9% total decrease from 2024-25, with some segments declining 5% and others 10%. The headline emphasizes that 2025’s deal value increase was driven by bigger deals, as total value rose while deal count fell.
This image description was completed with the assistance of Writer, a gen AI tool.
Source: PitchBook.
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