Riding the wave of market change: Global private equity report 2025
The international market may be volatile, but the outlook in the private equity (PE) sector shows increasing confidence. In this report, we uncover why PE firms remain optimistic for 2025 and what strategies they’re employing to drive performance.
Over 300 respondents across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America participated in the Forvis Mazars global private equity survey. In our latest report Riding the wave of market change, we’re sharing the figures and insights gathered around portfolio performance, investment trends, and strategies for 2025, alongside commentary and recommendations from industry experts.
Given the confidence reported at the start of 2024, which ended up as a relatively flat year in most markets, PE firms are adopting a more measured outlook for 2025, with leaders sharing some of the results and strategies they plan to take in the year to come.
Respondents identified market volatility as the biggest challenge impacting performance – with interest rates and inflation remaining key concerns – but many PE firms are adapting their short-term and long-term investing and partnership strategies to ride the wave of that volatility.
Korea’s M&A market, despite political uncertainties, is expected to see a modest recovery in 2025 after years of stagnation since 2021. Both Korean and global PE firms will remain key players in the Korean market. In line with global trends, Korean PE firms are focusing on value creation, while interest in carve-out deals, mid-sized deals, and secondary deals is expected to persist.
Joong-Hwan Na, Partner & Head of FAS
Key insights in the report include:
| Market confidence by geography, including factors contributing to optimism or pessimism in various regions |
| Top challenges that impacted portfolio performance in 2024 |
| Portfolio performance (IRR) expectations vs results, and the key factors for over- or under-performance |
| Which sectors and sub-sectors are most and least attractive to investors in the current market landscape and why |
| Satisfaction and performance across majority vs minority and active vs passive shareholders |
| A growing interest in and engagement with mid-market funds and deals |
| Evolution in growth strategies, including an increased focus on add-on deals over platform deals |
| How and why PE firms are increasing tenure as a strategy for securing returns |
| How PE firms are partnering more closely with portfolio companies on value creation and operations for more successful exits |
| How ESG considerations and regulatory challenges are impacting deal structuring and portfolio management |
| How geopolitical risk and expansion strategies impact cross-border investment strategies |
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