Private Equity Statistics 2026

Private equity in 2026 is defined by a paradox: deals and exits recovered strongly in 2025, yet investors are still getting cash back more slowly than at any time in the past decade. The numbers below come from the three annual references the industry itself cites, each with its date.

Key figures at a glance

Figures checked against their sources on 12 October 2026.

Deals

Deal making recovered sharply in 2025. Bain counts 904 billion dollars of buyout deal value, up 44 percent, even as the number of deals fell 6 percent to 3,018: fewer, much larger transactions, with a record average disclosed deal size of about 1.2 billion dollars. McKinsey, which also counts growth equity, puts total private equity deal value at 2.6 trillion dollars, up 19 percent, with take private deal value up 43 percent. Prices rose with activity: the median buyout traded at 11.8 times EBITDA, a record, against 11.3 times in 2024 (McKinsey, 2026).

Exits and distributions

Exits followed the deals. Bain records 717 billion dollars of buyout exit value in 2025, up 47 percent, and McKinsey counts 1.3 trillion dollars of private equity exits on its broader measure, with listings of private equity backed companies raising more than 320 billion dollars, nearly double 2024.

The recovery has not reached investors' bank accounts. Distributions were flat at about 14 percent of NAV, below 15 percent for the fourth year in a row (Bain, 2026). McKinsey measures the five year rolling distribution rate at about 10 percent of assets, the lowest on record. Behind it sits a backlog of about 32,000 unsold companies worth 3.8 trillion dollars (Bain), and an average holding period at exit of 6.6 years, against 6.1 years on average between 2011 and 2020 (McKinsey). More than half of buyout backed companies, 52 percent, had been held four years or more, up from 43 percent a year earlier.

Fundraising and dry powder

Slow distributions slow fundraising, because investors recycle cash returned by old funds into new ones. Buyout fundraising fell 16 percent to 395 billion dollars in 2025, and the number of buyout funds closed fell 23 percent, while private capital across all strategies raised about 1.3 trillion dollars, roughly flat (Bain, 2026). McKinsey records a 17 percent fall in closed end private equity fundraising to about 616 billion dollars, with the decline concentrated in Europe and Asia Pacific, and semiliquid vehicles for individual investors in the United States raising 204 billion dollars.

Uncommitted capital, or dry powder, stood at about 1.3 trillion dollars (Bain, 2026). Its age matters more than its size: more than 40 percent had been available for two years or more in June 2025, a record share and about 15 points above the five year average (McKinsey, 2026). Old dry powder pushes managers to deploy, which helps explain the rise in prices.

Secondaries and continuation funds

The liquidity squeeze created its own market. Secondaries transaction value reached a record 240 billion dollars in 2025, up 48 percent (McKinsey, 2026). Deals led by fund managers accounted for 115 billion dollars, much of it through continuation funds, whose annual value rose from 35 billion dollars in 2020 to 115 billion in 2025. About 14 percent of sponsor backed exits now go through a continuation vehicle. Buyout stakes traded at an average of 92 percent of NAV.

Returns

Measured over long horizons, private equity has done what it promised. The Cambridge Associates US private equity index returned 15.1 percent a year net of fees over the ten years to 31 March 2026, 12.9 percent over 20 years and 12.8 percent over 25 years. Shorter horizons are weaker: 9.2 percent over five years and 7.4 percent over three. McKinsey puts buyout returns at about 7 percent in 2025, against 18 percent for the S&P 500 and 22 percent for the MSCI World, and notes that leverage and multiple expansion explained 59 percent of buyout returns between 2010 and 2022. For how these returns compare with venture capital, see Private Equity vs Venture Capital.

How big is private equity?

There is no single audited figure for the size of the industry, and published estimates differ by trillions depending on what they include. McKinsey estimates closed end private capital, the traditional fund model of which private equity is the largest part, at 16 to 16.5 trillion dollars in 2025, and total private capital including evergreen and other forms at about 24 trillion dollars, up from about 14 trillion in 2020. Bain values the unsold companies held by buyout funds at about 3.8 trillion dollars. Treat any single headline number for private equity assets with caution, and check what it counts.

What the numbers hide

Definitions differ between reports. Bain counts buyouts; McKinsey includes growth equity and reports both closed end and broader totals. A deal value of 904 billion and one of 2.6 trillion can both be right for the same year.

Pooled returns are not your returns. The Cambridge Associates index pools hundreds of funds. The gap between top and bottom quartile managers in private equity is wide, so manager selection matters more than the index.

Values are partly appraised. NAV, unsold company values and returns over short horizons rely on manager valuations until companies are sold. The realised figures, exits and distributions, are the harder data.