The number of private equity exits achieved in 2019 held up well despite the uncertain economic and political environment, according to the latest figures from drxDATA.
A total of 281 PE-backed businesses in the UK achieved an exit during the year, which was only slightly down on the 289 businesses which achieved an exit in 2018.
The total number of exits was strongly supported by a surge in the number of secondary buyouts taking place during the year, which rose by a third from 85 in 2018 to 113 in 2019.
IPOs fell from 10 in 2018 to 7 in 2019, while the number of trade sales taking place was down 18% from 142 in 2018 to 117 in 2019.
Samuel Robberts, Head of drxDATA, said: “The volume of exits has held up well through 2019, broadly in line with the volume that we saw in 2018. However, within the market there has been considerable variation. The volume of trade sales has decreased sharply from 2018, largely due to a fall off in the number of international trade buyers compared to 2018, when sales spiked due to the benefits of a weak pound.”
“However the volume of secondary buyouts increased, in line with expectations given the considerable amounts of capital raised through 2017-18, which is now being deployed. The weakness in the IPO market was well documented through 2019, and we see that reflected in the annual figures. It will be interesting to see if these notably improve through 2020, as they often serve as a barometer for wider market confidence.”
drxDATA® is Drax’s proprietary data analytics platform which is used to develop unique data sets providing insights and analysis for our clients.
Drax contact: Samuel Robberts
Head of drxDATA
Email: sr@draxexecutive.com
Tel: 0203 949 9565
