Spain breaks its record for PE deal count in 2022

Last year, Spain’s private equity industry saw a record number of deals completed, despite the total capital invested in the country dropping.

PitchBook data recorded 381 Spanish PE deals in 2022—a 12.4% increase from the previous year. Deal value was down by just over 35%, from €50.4 billion ($56.6 billion) to €32.6 billion ($35.3 billion), but it was still the second-highest year on record.

Spain’s robust deal-making comes as its economy makes a better-than-expected rebound. This month, the country recorded a 5.5% growth in GDP for 2022, with the last quarter showing 2.4% growth on the same period a year ago.

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PE in Spain last year lacked big bracket deals. Over 70% of deals were worth less than €1 billion, with no deals worth over €2.5 billion. By comparison, 34% of deals in Spain in 2021 were worth over €2.5 billion.

The largest deal of last year was AXA IM Alts’ and Swiss Life Asset Managers’ €2 billion acquisition of Spanish fiber optics company Lyntia from Antin Infrastructure Partners. However, it was less than one-third the size of Oakley Capital’s €6.5 billion acquisition of Spanish enterprise software company Grupo Primavera, which was Spain’s biggest deal in 2021.

The only other deal worth over €1 billion was another secondary buyout: Brookfield Asset Management’s acquisition of Cupa Group from Carlyle Group. As a producer of natural slate, the company is a world away from the usual hot PE sectors such as enterprise software and other areas to aid the growing need for digitization.

Source: Yahoo Finance

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