Deal Origination Benchmark Report 2026

Introduction

Methodology

As the industry standard for origination insights, the Deal Origination Benchmark Report is a bi-annual publication offering unparalleled insights on market coverage, deal flow efficiency, and sourcing performance. It delivers the most comprehensive view of how firms compare in market reach and sourcing success.

Private equity firms are operating in an increasingly constrained origination environment, where declining overall deal volume has materially reshaped sourcing dynamics. This year’s report reveals a significant contraction in (median) target market size across all peer groups, e.g., sector focused and generalist, lower and upper market, etc., which translates to a broad-based tightening of addressable opportunities for private equity firms aiming to deploy capital.

The report aggregates market coverage and private equity acquisition data for 185 private equity firms that are our current clients, segmented into eight peer groups. Firms are included subject to a minimum requirement of reporting tracked pipeline data to us consistently for two years.

Private equity’s deal sourcing blind spot

In 2025, we saw lower transaction activity in the lower middle market. This, in turn, has implications across the broader ecosystem, as smaller deals have historically served as a pipeline for larger funds that prefer to acquire “pre-improved” companies from other private equity firms that have already implemented operational and strategic enhancements. This is likely to further increase competition for quality middle market assets, a trend that has been intensifying for several years. Firms that successfully adapt are building relationships with companies before they come to market and proactively seeking new deal sources to secure inclusion on future buyers lists.

Exit activity also reflects the collective strain. Less than half of private equity firms included in the report exited a platform investment in 2025, underscoring elongated hold periods and continued uncertainty for investors demanding liquidity. The best-positioned managers are those with disciplined capital deployment strategies and robust value creation plans that focus on both margin expansion and exit planning.

In this context, the dispersion in market coverage and sourcing effectiveness across firms remains pronounced. As highlighted in this report, success is no longer defined by scale of coverage alone, but by how effectively firms align and adjust their sourcing strategies with sustained competitive pressures and macro uncertainty.

All sponsors

Summary Metrics | Market coverage by peer group

As of the full year 2025, based on our 185 private equity clients.

All sponsors | All private equity peer groups

As of the full year 2025, based on our 185 private equity clients.

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Generalist market

Generalist Lower Middle Market | 10+ MM EV

Peer Group definition: private equity firms considering 60%–100% of deals to be in relevant industries, within target size ranges $10 MM EV and above.

Generalist Middle Market | 50+ MM EV

Peer Group definition: private equity firms considering 60%–100% of deals to be in relevant industries, within target size ranges $50 MM EV and above.