Private equity appears to have made it through the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and others last month unscathed. Or has it?

Deal volume fell 9.3 percent to 2,711 transactions, even as the value of deals rose 11.7 percent in the first quarter of 2023. Within seven days of SVB’s demise and the other turmoil it caused, private equity firms announced five mega buyouts worth a total of $31.3 billion. That included the largest of the year: taking Qualtrics private at $12.5 billion. “Clearly, PE dealmakers were undisturbed by the events that preceded and followed the SVB meltdown,” PitchBook said in its quarterly private equity report. READ MORE