What did the first third-quarter figures show for private equity exits?
A rebound by value far larger than the rebound by count. PitchBook's Q3 2026 Global PE First Look, as reported by Foley & Lardner on 2 October 2026, counts 1,089 exits worldwide, up 9.3 percent on the second quarter, worth $481.6 billion, up 65 percent.
The United States followed the same pattern at a smaller scale. Foley reports 405 exits there, up 11 percent, worth $165.1 billion, up 51 percent on the quarter. It attributes the distance between the two changes to a few large sales that lifted the value.
Foley also relays PitchBook's observation that the exit count and exit value in the United States are closer to the levels of the start of 2026, when more companies were being brought to market.
These are preliminary figures. A First Look is PitchBook's early release of top-line numbers ahead of its full quarterly reports, and the totals are revised as late-reported transactions are added. We could not read PitchBook's report at source, so every figure here is carried as Foley's article of 2 October gives it.
How much of the exit rebound was size and how much was volume?
Most of it was size. Worldwide, exit value grew about seven times as fast as the exit count: 65 percent against 9.3 percent. In the United States the multiple was between four and five: 51 percent against 11 percent. Both comparisons are our arithmetic on the figures Foley reports.
Put another way, the value per exit counted rose by about 51 percent worldwide in a single quarter, and by about 36 percent in the United States. We derive only that change. Foley's article does not say how exits without a disclosed value are counted, so we print no dollar average.
Subtracting the United States from the global figures leaves 684 exits worth about $316.5 billion elsewhere. That is our subtraction, on preliminary numbers. It puts roughly 37 percent of the quarter's exits and 34 percent of the exit value in the United States.
An article on this site published on 1 October made a similar reading of all M&A over nine months, on a different provider's data: value up sharply, the number of transactions lower. The two data sets do not count the same transactions and we have not reconciled them. They point the same way. The total is being moved by the largest sales.
Did private equity firms buy as much as they sold in the third quarter?
Almost, worldwide. Foley reports 5,718 private equity deals globally in the quarter, up 1.9 percent, worth $499.2 billion, up 7.8 percent. Against that, exit value of $481.6 billion is about 96 percent of deal value, by our arithmetic.
The United States ran differently. Deals there numbered 2,466, up 5.8 percent, worth $230.4 billion, up 20 percent. Exit value was about 72 percent of deal value. Outside the United States, by subtraction, exits of about $316.5 billion exceeded deals of about $268.8 billion, a ratio of about 118 percent.
These ratios should be read loosely. Deal value and exit value describe two different sets of transactions, and neither is a cash account. The direction is the point. In a quarter when the buying barely grew in number, the selling rose by two thirds in value.
Foley relays PitchBook's reading of the buying side. Globally, sponsors are still deploying capital cautiously and smaller deals are driving activity. In the United States, sponsors are on what PitchBook's analysts call better footing: add-on and growth equity transactions continue, and very large deals are lifting the totals.
| Market | Exits | Exit value | Deals | Deal value | Exit value against deal value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global | 1,089 | $481.6bn | 5,718 | $499.2bn | about 96% |
| Global, change on the second quarter | +9.3% | +65% | +1.9% | +7.8% | not applicable |
| United States | 405 | $165.1bn | 2,466 | $230.4bn | about 72% |
| United States, change on the second quarter | +11% | +51% | +5.8% | +20% | not applicable |
| Outside the United States | 684 | about $316.5bn | 3,252 | about $268.8bn | about 118% |
“An exit total that rises by two thirds while the count rises by a tenth says that the largest assets found buyers. It says much less about the mid-sized portfolio company that has been held a year or two longer than planned. That company is still waiting, and its owner is still careful.”
Is the money from exits reaching new private equity funds?
Not yet, on the fundraising figures. Foley reports 523 private equity funds closed worldwide in the year to the end of the third quarter, a count pacing 30.5 percent below last year and, in its words, just half of what closed in 2025 with one quarter to go.
Capital raised held up better than the number of funds. The global total stood at $368.1 billion for the year to date, pacing 3.1 percent above last year. Fewer funds raising slightly more money means the money is going to larger managers.
The United States is weaker on both measures. Foley reports 348 funds, pacing down 31.5 percent, and $222 billion raised, pacing down 10.3 percent, with PitchBook pointing to a concentration in fewer, larger funds. If the pace holds, Foley writes, 2026 would be the first year since 2020 in which the asset class raises less than $300 billion in the United States, with the lowest fund count since 2017.
The sequence matters. Exits return capital to a fund's investors, and those investors commit to the next fund only after the money comes back. One strong quarter of exit value, concentrated in a few sales, does not refill the commitments of every manager. A companion article on this site covers how that shortage of distributions slows sponsor buyers.
What should an owner selling to a private equity buyer take from these figures?
That sponsors are active, selective and uneven. The number of deals rose 1.9 percent worldwide and 5.8 percent in the United States, so buyers are at the table. The readings that follow are ours, not PitchBook's or Foley's.
The first is that a platform sale and an add-on sale are different markets. Where smaller deals, add-ons and growth equity carry the count, the most likely sponsor buyer for a founder-owned company is an existing portfolio company buying in its own sector. That buyer knows the business model and moves on its lender's and its sponsor's timetable. Ask early who approves the purchase and how it is financed.
The second is to ask about the fund. With fund closings about 30 percent behind last year, some managers are investing from a fund near the end of its investment period and others have fresh capital. The age of the fund affects how long the buyer can hold, how it treats a rollover and how much room it has for further investment in the company.
The third is that a sponsor under pressure to return capital is also a seller. Its portfolio companies will come to the same strategic and financial buyers an owner hopes to reach. Preparation that lets a buyer confirm the numbers quickly is what separates one company from the next in that queue.
A note on what these figures are. They are preliminary counts and values from one provider, read through a law firm's summary dated 2 October 2026, and they will be revised. They describe sponsor-backed transactions of every size. They are not a forecast for the sale of any one company.
As of October 2026
Sources: PitchBook, Q3 2026 Global PE First Look, preliminary figures for the third quarter of 2026, as reported by Foley & Lardner, "An Early Look at Q3 2026 PE Activity", Louis Lehot and Andre Thiollier, Foley Viewpoints, 2 October 2026, read first-hand, for: 1,089 private equity exits globally, up 9.3 percent quarter on quarter, worth $481.6 billion, up 65 percent; 405 exits in the United States, up 11 percent, worth $165.1 billion, up 51 percent, with the difference attributed to a few large sales and with count and value closer to the levels of the start of 2026; 5,718 deals globally, up 1.9 percent, worth $499.2 billion, up 7.8 percent; 2,466 deals in the United States, up 5.8 percent, worth $230.4 billion, up 20 percent; PitchBook's reading that sponsors globally are deploying capital cautiously with smaller deals driving activity, and that sponsors in the United States are on better footing with add-on, growth equity and very large transactions; 523 funds closed globally in the year to the end of the third quarter, pacing down 30.5 percent and about half of the 2025 total, with $368.1 billion raised, pacing up 3.1 percent; 348 funds in the United States, pacing down 31.5 percent, with $222 billion raised, pacing down 10.3 percent, a concentration in fewer and larger funds, and the prospect of the first year since 2020 below $300 billion and the lowest fund count since 2017. PitchBook's own report was not read. The comparisons of how much faster value grew than count, the change in value per exit counted, the figures for markets outside the United States, the United States shares of global exits, and the ratios of exit value to deal value are our arithmetic. The companion articles cited for nine-month M&A value against deal count and for distributions and the pace of sponsor buyers carry their own sources. The readings on add-on buyers, the age of a fund and competing sponsor sales are ours.
Corrections: factual errors are corrected on the page and the correction dated. Write to admin@kadenwoodgroup.com.
This position sits within our sell-side M&A advisory practice.