A year of recalibration and resilience
Our key takeaways from European Private Equity in 2025
The market has been recalibrating over the course of 2025, and A&M’s Private Equity Performance Improvement team has seen firsthand how this is playing out.
After several years of muted deal flow and limited exits, rising political tensions and the shock of US tariffs added more challenges to the mix earlier in 2025. In recent months, however, more positive signs are emerging: M&A activity is picking up, large deals are closing and previously stalled processes are returning to the market.
Yet, complexity remains. Macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty persists, adding new layers of risk to dealmaking. And funds are still holding a significant backlog of assets in their portfolios, many of which were acquired at high valuations during the Covid-era deal cycle. Enhancing value and achieving exits for this cohort of investments remain the top priority, and will continue to be a defining feature of the market for years to come.
In this year-in-review article, we reflect on the most relevant trends in the PE market in 2025, and share our learnings and success stories across the following topics:
- Portfolio company transformation
- Integrated due diligence
- AI use cases in PE
- Finance transformation
In 2025, the PEPI team have worked on:
200+
performance improvement projects
150+
due diligence projects
6/10
largest PE deals in Europe
70%
of the largest European carve-out deals in 2025
2025 achievements
A&Ms Private Equity Performance Improvement team have seen firsthand how the PE market has recalibrated this year. We’ve helped clients find new sources of growth, expand margins through operational efficiency and navigate market volatility in large-scale, complex transformations.
