For years now, we’ve published our Annual Global League Tables, ranking the most active PE and VC firms, as well as all types of service providers, by a variety of cuts. To provide a more frequent, definitive reference, we’ll be releasing quarterly installments moving forward.
In this first-ever 1Q 2017 Global League Tables, you can find all the major rankings of players within PE and VC, whether by region, deal type or AUM. We also include detailed breakdowns of service provider activity, such as which law firms are assisting on the most early-stage VC financings.
The Most Active PE & VC Firms – First-Ever Quarterly Global League Tables
Each year, we seek to refresh our approach when it comes to providing the most comprehensive rankings of private equity and venture capital firms’ activity, as well as affiliated service providers. Accordingly, we’ve decided to remove redundancies by adding rankings of the most active advisors and law firms in general mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity to the following pages.
On top of that, this is the first-ever quarterly edition of the PitchBook Global League Tables. At the beginning of 2017, we decided to make this publication quarterly, not only to save space in our flagship report series such as the Venture Monitor, the US PE Breakdown, etc. by cutting down on the length of tables overall, but also to provide a timelier reference for firms. This way we can house all the essential rankings from the most active law firms by regions to investment banks by deal type in one central document for easier reference. Of course, given that only one quarter has elapsed, the quarterly editions shall likely be somewhat shorter than the full annual edition, simply as there shan’t have been much activity of some types and in some regions. As the release of the Global League Tables shall typically fall at the end of the first month in a given quarter, there is ample time allowed for all firms to get in touch with us to ensure that their placement is accurately represented. To that end, if you wish to contact us regarding this specific report, please contact us at [email protected], but if you wish instead to inquire as to our general survey process, please send your questions to [email protected].
METHODOLOGY
LEAGUE TABLES
All league tables are compiled using the count of completed deals for the specified deal type, region and/or other criteria.
PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
The report includes all PE investments (buyout, growth, recapitalization and add-on), excluding real estate investments. Only investments made directly by PE investors or their portfolio companies are counted. Buyout deals are defined as transactions in which the PE investor receives a controlling ownership stake in the target company. Growth deals are defined as minority investments. Add-on deals are defined as acquisitions by companies with private equity backing.
VENTURE CAPITAL DEALS
This report includes all VC investments (including angel/seed). Only investments made directly by VCs, incubators/accelerators and angels are counted. Venture rounds tracked as accelerator/incubator are not included. As our league tables are based on round classifications, financings by investors such as corporate VC arms are included.
M&A TRANSACTIONS
Eligible transaction types include control acquisitions, leveraged buyouts (including asset acquisitions solely for LBOs), reverse mergers and spin-offs. Transactions must involve SMEs or corporations, and must be a substantive transfer of control or ownership. Debt restructurings or other liquidity, self-tenders or internal reorganizations are not included.
LENDERS
Lender league tables look at completed PE deals the lender provided debt financing for in a given time period or region. The transaction must involve equity provided by a PE firm. In league tables for debt-only financings, the transaction must involve debt financing to a company that is PE-backed or VC-backed.
SERVICE PROVIDERS
Service provider (SP) league tables are compiled using the same criteria for deals as the other league tables. Transactions are not counted twice, meaning if the SP provided the same service to both the investor and company on one deal, it would only receive credit for one deal in the rankings, not two.
EXITS
Exit league tables take into account both full and partial exits via corporate acquisition, secondary PE buyout and IPO. Dividend recapitalizations are not taken into account in the report.
INDUSTRIES & SECTORS
Companies tracked by PitchBook have a primary industry, as well as secondary industries. For this report, the primary industry was used to determine rankings by industry and sector.
US REGIONS
West Coast: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington
Mountain: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming
Midwest: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota
Great Lakes: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin
New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
Mid-Atlantic: Delaware, D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia
South: Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas
Southeast: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina
EUROPEAN REGIONS
UK & Ireland: United Kingdom, Ireland, Channel Islands
DACH: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein
France/Benelux: France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Nordic: Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden
Southern Europe: Andorra, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Portugal, San Marino, Spain
Central & Eastern Europe (CEE): Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine
REST OF WORLD
Any country besides the United States or European nations.
For more information on our methodology, contact [email protected] or [email protected].
The Most Active PE & VC Firms – Quarterly Global League Tables
Article by PitchBook
