The insights and experience of private equity (PE) experts from across Europe were channeled into the latest iteration in Roland Berger’s annual European Private Equity Outlook. Taken together, their findings reflect the market’s expectations surrounding key investment themes of relevance to the private equity industry in 2025.
European Private Equity Outlook 2026
The European PE industry is set to gain further momentum in 2026, but pitfalls remain
After a period of stabilization, our latest annual survey shows the PE market recovery is strengthening. But not all of the indicators are positive. So where will the opportunities lie in 2026? Our assessment of the findings explores trends, concerns and expectations for the year ahead.
The Outlook is the 17th consecutive publication in a series launched by Roland Berger in 2010.
"The European Private Equity Outlook 2026 highlights a sector regaining momentum, with technology and digital solutions leading the way. As value creation and specialization become more critical, investors are focusing on resilience and innovation to drive future growth."
The private equity (PE) market recovery will continue apace in 2026, according to the latest edition of our European Private Equity Outlook. Three quarters of respondents in our annual expert survey said they believed there will be more M&A activity involving PE in 2026 than in 2025, showing that optimism in the sector remains high. Just 10% said they expected a decrease in transactions. Key reasons for the positive outlook included improving debt availability, higher pricing visibility and a sizeable pipeline of exits and sell-side processes that are likely to hit the market in 2026.
Central and Eastern Europe is expected to see the strongest gain in momentum by region, followed by the DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) region and the Nordics. Our respondents believe the Technology, software & digital solutions (chosen by 69% of respondents) and Business services & logistics sectors (68%) will see the highest number of PE M&A transactions.
In other key findings, small- and mid-cap markets recorded the strongest growth expectations for 2026 (chosen by 64% of respondents), with large-cap conditions thought to be easing, while value creation remains a key priority for PE deals.
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Valuations come back down to Earth
The study explores which measures PE investors plan to take against potential downturns. Investing in resilient businesses and avoiding cyclical industries, making add-on acquisitions, and preparing portfolio companies for challenging times through dedicated weatherproofing programs ranked highest among our respondents, while increasing participation in take-private transactions and investing in more distressed assets were lowest.
Elsewhere, there was a notable fall in the number of respondents describing valuation multiples as overvalued, with the figure dropping from 59% in late 2024 to 49% in 2025. Technology, software & digital solutions, and Infrastructure were thought the most likely industries to experience increased valuation multiples, and Automotive and Chemicals the least likely.
"We see European private equity moving from stabilization toward renewed momentum. Deal activity is picking up, exit markets are normalizing, and value creation is becoming more execution-driven, supported by digitalization and AI."
Focus on value creation
Almost 80% of PE professionals expect the targets available in 2026 to be as attractive or more attractive than the targets available in 2025, a fall of 19 percentage points compared to 2025. In a significant rise, 21% of PE professionals believe that the targets will be less attractive than in the previous year (1% in 2025). Primary buy-outs, carve-outs and secondary buy-outs are perceived to be the most important sources of targets in 2026.
In debt financing, a majority of respondents rate end-2025 debt availability neutral-to-good across deal sizes, with optimism particularly high for small-cap targets. As in the previous survey, the main hurdle for the availability of debt financing is the low predictability of cash flows.
In summary, the Outlook once again provides invaluable intelligence on the current thinking within the PE sector, as well as casting a light on potential bright spots and emerging opportunities. For lots more detail and analyses of all the findings, download a copy of the full report or contact one of our experts.
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