Beginning in the first quarter of 2020, the world was faced with an unprecedented challenge as COVID-19 ravaged the globe and international economic activity dropped to historically low levels.
Private equity was no exception. As the world hit pause and locked down to slow the pandemic, private equity dealmakers were left scrambling to adjust to new realities. It should surprise no one that private equity deal making took a nosedive in the first and second quarters of 2020.
Click the box in the top right corner for the key.
The illustration above shows the most active U.S. states for deal making (California, New York, and Texas) went from a peak of 130+ deals per state in Q4 of 2019 to no state surpassing 90 deals in Q2 of 2020.
The dropoff in economic activity had an effect that many did not realize at the time: because they couldn’t spend their money, individuals and institutions were force...