Our partners at TruSight, LLC wrote an interesting article about the recent and substantial decline in new automotive sales. TruSight’s thesis is that this would likely create additional demand for aftermarket parts.

To pair with that, we explored our Database of Private Equity Firms to analyze the trend of private equity firms investing in Automotive Aftermarket platform acquisitions.

The chart below shows varied PE appetite for automotive aftermarket companies over the past decade.

While the most prolific PE investment sectors for August 2022 were Manufacturing, Healthcare, and Software, we wanted to highlight some more specialized sectors this month as well.

The trending (more specialized) private equity investment sectors for August 2022 were Advisory Platforms, Pharma-Contract Research, Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics and Fintech.

Sample transactions for each category are highlighted below.

Private equity firms have shown an increased interest in Advisory Services platforms over the past decade. Consistent with this trend, 2022 is on pace for a record year for PE firms investing in advisory services companies.

Our M&A Research Database shows 194 historical platform investments (excluding add-ons) in the Advisory Services space.

There was a time when private equity firms generally avoided acquiring portfolio companies from other private equity firms. This is no longer the case.

In fact, some PE firms operating at the lower end of the market view larger PE firms as likely exit strategies for their portfolio companies. Conversely, larger PE firms now view smaller PE investors as potential deal flow channels for new acquisitions.

The graph below shows the number of PE-to-PE deals by month, since Jan 2021.

The data table below compares monthly private equity transaction volume (investments and exits of portfolio company holdings) for the first half of 2021 and 2022.

Each month, we review and comment on private equity Investment trends. This post, we review industry themes from private equity portfolio Exits (July 2022).

Industries with the most exits in July (# exits)

• Manufacturing (14)
• Software (11)

See sample transactions for each below…

The trending private equity investment sectors for July 2022 were Software, Manufacturing, and Pharma.

Sample transactions for each category are highlighted below.

We probed our Private Equity Database to determine the most active private equity investors in the Restaurant sector. Below are the Top 15 private equity firms investing in restaurants.

The trending private equity investment sectors for June 2022 were Software, Technology, and Packaging.

Sample transactions for each category are highlighted below.

Private equity investments in the Mental Health space have increased significantly in the wake of COVID.

The chart below, from our Private Equity Database, shows varied PE appetite for mental health companies over time, but spiking in recent years.