Private Equity Dealmakers Close $2.3 Trillion in 90 Days — Mid-Market Becomes the New Battleground

Private equity firms deployed $2.3 trillion across 1,645 transactions in the past 90 days — a pace that suggests the dealmaker premium is more durable than headline exit counts imply. The narrative of PE at an inflection point has become familiar: rates are still elevated, LP patience is finite, and mega-funds are hoarding dry powder. But the numbers reveal something different.

The median deal size sits at $2 billion. Large transactions — those above $10 billion — account for just 41 of the 1,645 total, yet they represent an outsized share of capital deployed. Financial services dominate by check size, while technology firms drive volume. The composition suggests a market that is both selective and deep: sponsors are picking their spots, but they're filling pipelines.

Financial Services Anchors the Mega-Deal Wave

Financial services towers over other sectors: 132 PE transactions totaling $838 billion in capital. This concentration reflects the sector's structural appeal to sponsors. Banks, insurers, and wealth managers offer steady cashflows, defensible franchises, and valuations that have reset after years of regulatory scrutiny. The arithmetic works.

Technology follows with 153 deals but a smaller aggregate check size ($192 billion). Enterprise software and infrastructure platforms are steadier targets, with lower leverage multiples and more predictable exits. Healthcare sits third with 46 deals and $53 billion deployed — a sector that rarely cycles, which is precisely why sponsors court it.

The buyer mix has also shifted. Strategic sponsors and mega-funds are moving downmarket. Mid-market PE — deals between $500 million and $5 billion — represents the bulk of transaction count (132 deals in the $1B-$5B band alone, plus smaller tranches below). Sponsors have stopped waiting for the exit window to swing wide. They're closing deals at entry valuations that work with 4–5% yield assumptions, not hoping for multiple expansion.

Exit Velocity Remains Strong Despite Rate Environment

The conventional wisdom holds that high rates kill PE exits. But 663 exit and divestiture announcements in 90 days push back on that. The typical exit is not a megacap strategic sale at a premium; it's a bilateral secondary or continuation fund roll into a new sponsor. These structures are invisible to public markets but are clearing capital at scale.

Blackstone's secondaries arm crossed $100 billion in assets under management this quarter. Advent International closed a $26 billion mega-buyout fund mid-cycle. The TKE/KONE tie-up — a €29.4 billion merger in which Advent and Cinver exited — demonstrates that even contested transactions can be structured to deliver distributions. The exit is still happening. The narrative just needs updating.

Secondary transactions and continuation funds now absorb more capital than traditional IPO and trade-sale paths. This is not a bug; it's a feature. Sponsors can hold longer, compound at scale, and avoid volatile public equity windows. For LPs, it means capital recycles faster within funds rather than returning to them for redeployment.

Technology Valuations Find a Floor

Enterprise software and cloud infrastructure have become the bellwether sectors for sponsor appetite. The average technology deal in this window comes in at $1.3 billion, below the pre-2021 median but stable over the past year. This suggests valuations have found a floor.

SaaS companies are trading at 5–7x EBITDA, down from 12–15x at peak. For sponsors, that makes the math work for a 3–5-year hold with modest revenue growth and margin expansion. Two trends reinforce this: first, the software market is consolidating, and larger buyers with cost-cutting muscle are emerging. Second, AI-adjacent tools are commanding premiums, so sponsors are mixing legacy software acquisitions with upmarket AI-native bolt-ons.

Healthcare, by contrast, remains a holdout. The 46 PE deals in the sector averaged $1.2 billion each, suggesting sponsors are being disciplined. Regulators have signaled tighter scrutiny of roll-ups in healthcare, which has forced sponsors to slow M&A velocity and focus on bolt-on organic growth.

The Middle Market Is Where the Action Is

The deal size distribution is telling. Only 19 transactions fell below $100 million; 111 were between $1 billion and $5 billion. This mid-market concentration reflects a structural shift: mega-funds are now closing at larger minimums and LPs are concentrated in fewer vehicles. The gap between mega-fund and lower-mid-market sponsorship has widened, which is pushing more deal activity toward platforms that can absorb $1–5 billion transactions at scale.

Waterland closed €4.6 billion across two funds in under four months. Tikehau Capital now manages €53 billion in AUM, up from €20 billion three years ago. These firms are building the infrastructure to move faster and larger than traditional mid-market sponsors. For portfolio companies, this means better operational support but also tighter integration timelines and faster exit pressures.

The 41 mega-deals above $10 billion dominate headlines — CPP Investments alone reported a $793 billion portfolio value — but they're outliers. The workhorse deal is now $2–3 billion, which is where GP capital, operational bandwidth, and LP appetite align. This market segment is clearing steadily.

What This Means for H2 2026

The PE market has entered a new equilibrium. It's not the frothy exit bonanza of 2021, but it's not stalled either. Sponsors are moving through the portfolio with purpose, exits are happening through diverse channels, and new capital is being raised at larger fund sizes. The spread between mega-fund and mid-market PE is widening, which will fragment the industry further over the next 2–3 years.

For LPs, this is good news: capital is deploying, returns are beginning to realize, and the backlog of portfolio companies is clearing. For entrepreneurs, the message is mixed: access to PE sponsorship is narrowing to those that can support large check sizes, but the quality of that partnership is improving. For the market broadly, this data says the PE cycle is not turning; it's normalizing.