2026年一季度美国私募股权中间市场报告（英）2026

Contents Institutional Research Group Executive summary4 Steven Buibish, CFADirector, US Private Equitysteven.buibish@pitchbook.com Deals5 A word from Cherry Bekaert9 Jinny Choi Senior Research Analyst,Private Equityjinny.choi@pitchbook.com Deals by backing and sector11 Spotlight Garrett Hinds 12 Senior Research Analyst,Private Equitygarrett.hinds@pitchbook.com Q1 2026 US Private Credit andMiddle Market Quarterly Wrap12 Kyle WaltersResearch Analyst, Private Equitykyle.walters@pitchbook.com A word from CIL Strategy Consultants Exits Harrison WaldockSenior Data Analyst A word from Insperity19 pbinstitutionalresearch@pitchbook.com Published on June 12, 2026 Fundraising and performance 22 Q1 2026 US PE middle-marketlending league tables27 References28 Every Stage of the Deal. 202 5 M I DDLE M AR K E T DE AL E XPE R I E N C E 650+TRANSACTIONS $25BTRANSACTIONVALUE 500+INDUSTRYPROFESSIONALS 4,300+PORTCOSSERVED 4,400+FUND CLIENTS cbh.com/privateequityADVI SO RY | A SS U R AN C E | TA X Executive summary Exits held up; the mix rotated hard.Q1 exit value reached$32 billion across 218 transactions, up 14% YoY. Sponsor-to-sponsor deals captured 69.5% of value as corporates retreatedto a post-pandemic low, and B2B surged to 52.9% of exit valueat the expense of IT—buyers and sellers were convergingon businesses more insulated from AI-driven softwarecompression. The IPO channel stayed shut, with zero middle-market listings. A strong start, a record-low share.Middle-market deal valuereached $103.8 billion in Q1, up 10.7% YoY and the highest first-quarter total in five years. Yet the segment’s share of all US PEbuyout value fell to 39.9%, the lowest on record, as deploymentcontinues to concentrate in larger transactions. The middle market is bifurcating.NewSPI by StepStone deal-level datashows the median entry multiple for the $500 millionto $1 billion total enterprise value (TEV) band closed 2025 at13.4x TEV/EBITDA, against 8.8x for the $25 million to $100million band—a spread of roughly 4.6 turns, up from about 3.4turns in 2023. The upper middle market increasingly resemblesmegadeal territory; the lower middle market does not. Fundraising stayed squeezed.Q1 raised $33.4 billion across38 funds, tracking only modestly ahead of 2025’s weakest pacesince 2018, as LPs concentrate commitments with brand-name managers and specialists. With leverage and multipleexpansion no longer doing the work, we expect returns tohinge on manager selection and operational value creation—and we see the lower middle market, with less competitionand cheaper entry, as the segment best positioned for upsidethrough 2026. Smaller checks have paid more—but with the same risk?SPIrealized-deal data since 2009 shows the $25 million to $100million TEV band returned a pooled 39% gross IRR, ahead ofevery larger band, and with fewer negative outcomes: 39% ofinvested capital sat in deals clearing more than a 35% IRR,compared with 30% for the largest band, while both groupshad almost identical left-tails. Larger checks bought lessupside without cushioning the downside. Deals Overview: The middle market continues to lose groundto megafunds The middle market got off to its strongest start since 2021,even as its share of PE deal value dropped to the lowest levelon record. These two signals demonstrate both the industry’scontinued resilience and the increasing levels of concentrationthat concern those in the middle market. Including estimatesfor late-reporting transactions, deal value reached $103.8billion, up 10.7% YoY. Q1 2026 marks the highest first-quarterdeal value in five years and is 11% above the previous four-yearQ1 average of $93.2 billion. And QoQ, value rose 4.1% from Q42025, while count pulled back 13.6% from a Q4 spike of morethan 1,000 transactions. Median deal size reached a record $193.1 million in Q1, up 9.4%YoY and roughly 49% above the 2024 median of $130 million.Average deal size moved in parallel, rising to $304 million from$260 million in 2025. Capital is concentrating on larger targetsrather than broadening the participation set—consistent withthe pattern seen over the past three years. Furthermore, the middle market’s share of US PE buyout valuesits at 39.9% in Q1, the lowest reading on record and 180 basispoints below the 41.7% full-year 2025 figure. By count, sharefell to 61.3% from 70.5% in 2025—a meaningful step-down butstill the majority of US PE deal activity. The middle market is nolonger the engine of US PE deployment by value, even if it stillcaptures most deals by count. The strength of the platform model is a bright spot; add-onsaccounted for 68.4% of all middle-market deal count and53.5% of value in Q1, consistent with full-year 2025 at 67.4%and 53.8%, respectively, and marking the beginning of the sixthconsecutive year above 65% by count. Strong, scaled platformsresulted in some of the middle market’s more successfulexits in Q1, as discussed in the“Exits”section, and provide ablueprin