Private equity investors are holding off on big ticket leveraged buyouts until debt becomes affordable again. In the meantime, add-on strategies provide some relief.

Tasked with a challenging exit environment and a dwindling supply of affordable debt financing, PE managers are turning to add-ons, which are smaller-sized target acquisitions made through existing portfolio companies, to meet capital deployment mandates and keep portfolio company multiples afloat. In 2022, add-ons comprised 77% of US PE deals, an approximate jump of 3 percentage points from 2021, according to PitchBook data. READ MORE