The Exit Backlog and Hold Periods

• Bain counts 32,000 unsold PE companies worth 3.8 trillion dollars, hold periods near seven years
• McKinsey finds 16,000-plus companies held over four years, 52 percent of buyout-backed inventory, a record share
• PitchBook finds 13,509 US PE-backed companies, a third held five-plus years, 3,332 with no deal since 2021
• Exit values hit 620 billion dollars in H1 2026, but nearly half of US PE-backed companies are now held five to nine years
• In Brazil, PE exits fell from 9 percent to 4 percent of portfolio since 2023, with 35 percent fewer H1 deals

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Liquidity Workarounds: Secondaries, Continuation Vehicles and Recaps

• Fundraising hit 308 billion dollars in H1 2026, the best six months in three years, while sponsor-to-sponsor exits hit a decade low
• Only a third of PE firms formally re-check a deal post-close, and just 35 percent involve the investment committee
• Dividend recap volume is down nearly 40 percent versus 2025 as sponsors bet on add-ons over payouts
• Structured equity, blending stock and debt, is sponsors' newest tool to return capital without a full exit
• Named secondaries leaders like Blackstone's Verdun Perry and Coller Capital's Jeremy Coller are scaling LP and GP-led deals
• UBS finds private assets now 42 percent of the average family office portfolio, PE alone 17 percent

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Alternative Ownership Paths Beyond a PE Sale

• Management buyout volumes are rising into 2026 as owners turn to teams already running the business
• In Canada, three in four owners plan to exit within a decade, but only one in ten has a formal plan
• Mathews Archery became employee-owned instead of selling to private equity, with founder Matt McPherson staying CEO
• Family offices are buying lower-middle-market businesses directly, without a PE fund's exit clock
• Confluence Financial Partners, a 7.6 billion dollar RIA, took minority capital instead of a majority PE sale

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Notable Deals

• Revamp's PE partnership with Bertram, begun 2022, closed with a sale to a new owner in December 2025
• Bonchon is being sold by VIG Partners to Minor Food and Serruya Private Equity
• KKR netted 3.3 billion dollars after tax selling USI Insurance Services to Aon for 17 billion dollars
• Hanson Capital sold an eight-asset Phoenix industrial portfolio for 60 million dollars, a 31.06 percent IRR
• Blackstone-backed Indian IPOs used most fresh capital to repay Blackstone's own debt, well above market norms

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Exit Readiness and Portfolio Governance

• EY finds 86 percent of PE leaders say early exit prep improves valuation, best started 12 to 24 months out
• The exit backlog will clear in order of readiness, not the order it formed
• Average PE holding periods have stretched past 6.6 years, yet most boards still govern on the old five-year plan
• Sponsors now expect portfolio CFOs to understand data infrastructure directly, not defer to the CIO or CTO
• HUB's IPO Market Outlook frames preparation as the only sponsor-controlled readiness lever

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Thanks to Travis Kanafani, Chris Barber, Jay Goth, Kerry Craig, Marco Aurelio Duarte de Carvalho, Scott Engler, Stephanie McCann (Liang), Trevor Noren, Lachezar Zanev, Eldiyar Muratov, Gökhan Üç, Jeremy Rosmarin, Tom Mallon, Ben Morley, Chris Bisenius, Jeff Gear, Euan Rellie, Michael Sidgmore, Chris Hanson, Mutasim Khan, Josh Rosenberg, Gregory Bournet, Hitansh Singala, Asif Rahman, and Kyle Siegfried for the insights in this edition. Find the full list of posts and voices on LinkedIn: