See below an excellent report providing insight into the global private equity marketplace. Published by the World Economic Forum and titled Globalization of Alternative Investments - The Global Economic Impact of Private Equity 2008 the report analyzed over 21,000 private equity transactions between 1970 and 2007.

Interesting investment activity related findings include;

- 42% of private equity transactions are exited within 5 years (most firms from our coverage within PEdatabase tend to mention a target investment horizon of 3 - 5 years)

- US and Western European private equity activity represent all but 12% of the global total

- Continual shift from investments in just mature/traditional industries such as machinery and retail toward increased buyout activity in high-growth/tech related industries (makes sense given growth of specialist/crossover firms such as Silver Lake, Technology Crossover Ventures, and Summit Partners)

- Most common avenue for exit is sale to a strategic buyer (39% of total)

The report also analyzes private equity ownership in regards to “employment”, “governance”, and “long-run investment” commitments.

When it comes to numbers, most private equity firm websites are pretty good about helping out prospective sellers and indicate by some measure the size of businesses or transactions that the firm will consider.  The two most popular data points include a target company’s annual revenue size range and the per transaction equity investment size range that a firm can commit.  Since our inception, we focused on capturing the min’s and max’s for these two figures.

However, in our last round of updates, we’ve now gone through a majority of firm records and have added (at least where available), two additional points of investment criteria.  This includes min’s and max’s for a target company’s EBITDA or cash flow range, as well as the total transaction or enterprise value of prospective deals.  This information is now listed under “Transaction Details” on firm profile pages.

In addition to the above changes, we’ve also added and made available the years in which firms were established.

Last month we quietly inserted a link in our footer to the newly created Private Equity Glossary. Featuring terms, definitions, notes and more, check back often as we slowly add content specific to private equity.

If you come across any terms you feel are missing or need a makeover, let us know by emailing us at support AT pedatabase.com.