Business 3 min read By Bethany Hadley
JPMorgan M&A chief expects private equity exit pressure to build from 2027
Charlie Bouckaert, JPMorgan's global head of M&A, says private equity sponsors will move toward exits by the second half of 2027, driven by mounting pressure rather than a dealmaking boom, as unsold portfolio companies pile up.
Private equity sponsors are likely to move toward exits in the second half of 2027, according to Charlie Bouckaert, JPMorgan's global head of mergers and acquisitions. He said the shift would be driven by pressure on firms to return capital rather than by a renewed boom in dealmaking, and he pointed to a possible upside surprise in the sector's exit activity.
The pressure is visible in the backlog of unsold assets. PitchBook data, cited by the Wall Street Journal, shows private equity firms held 33,853 unsold investments as of September 30, 2026, up from 33,575 at the end of June. At the current pace of exits, PitchBook estimates it would take more than eight years to clear that inventory. Roughly 32,000 unsold companies were already in portfolios entering 2026.
The model at the heart of the industry depends on exits. Private equity firms raise money from limited partners and are expected to return that capital, with gains, once they sell or otherwise realise their investments. When sales stall, funds hold assets for longer, and the arithmetic of their returns comes under strain.
Holding periods have lengthened accordingly. Buyout holds are now around seven years, compared with five to six years between 2010 and 2021, according to Bain. That lengthening follows a record year in 2021, after which dealmaking slowed sharply when central banks raised interest rates in 2022 and the era of cheap debt came to an end. Recovery since then has been uneven, although deal and exit values rebounded in 2025.
Bouckaert's view of the wider market is more restrained. He described 2026 as very robust, particularly in its first two-thirds, but said dealmaking has since slowed to a lull. He expects 2027 to resemble recent activity rather than the highs of 2026. He noted that the market is skewing toward larger deals, though there are fewer of them, and cited AI-related M&A as one driver of that trend.
Refinancing deadlines add another layer of pressure. Some portfolio companies may need to refinance in 2028 or 2029, and those deadlines force sponsors to decide whether to sell or hold, and how to finance what they keep. Such decisions can bring forward exits that might otherwise have been delayed.
Outright company sales are not the only route back to investors. Bouckaert pointed to continuation funds, which move assets into a new vehicle managed by the same sponsor, and to the secondary market, where investors sell stakes to new buyers. He said he expects greater deal flow through these channels, which could allow firms to return capital without selling companies entirely.
Source: fortune.com
4
