2015 U.S. PE activity moved lower in terms of both deal flow and aggregate transaction value. Total
deal value came in at just under $606 billion across 3,602 completed deals,representing a year-over-year (YoY)decline of 4.8% and 8.2%, respectively.While activity slackened on a yearly basis, numbers remained strong historically. Highlighting 2013 as a comparison, 2015 deal value was still up over 18% compared to 2013, with deal counts remaining inflated by over 10% during the same period.The fact that 2015 counts declined at nearly double the pace as value speaks to the continued froth we’ve seen across the PE asset class. We firmly believe that since the bulk of top-tier companies already came to market in 2013 and 2014, the trepidation that slightly lower-quality companies faced in the market in 2H 2015 emphasizes the loss of fuel the latest investment cycle is beginning to experience. Firms are grappling with how to adequately deploy the dry powder they’ve accumulated, which in turn has increased competition for the best assets and also helped underpin multiples in many transactions.