EVCA Research Statistics - Divestments
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The divestment or exit of a portfolio company allows the private equity house to liquidate their position and realise a gain from their investment.
Annual Survey 2009 14 June 2010
These figures represent annual divestment activity undertaken by private equity and venture capital management companies located in Europe.
Statistics by country of private equity firm – Industry statistics
- UK players divested the highest amount with €4.7bn (42% of the European total). French private equity houses came second with €1.4bn (13% of the European total) divested, followed by German private equity houses with €1.3bn (12% of the European total).
- In 2009, private equity firms based in Europe exited 1,846 companies, with a total amount divested at cost of €11.1bn (a 21% drop compared to 2008).
- Write-offs accounted for 36% of the total amount divested at cost, and 22% of the companies exited.
- Write-offs excluded, trade sales were the largest exit route by amount (47%) in 2009 at €3.3bn, down from €5.3bn in 2008, with 376 companies divested in 2009 compared to 539 in 2008.
- Secondaries formed the second largest category by amount (write-offs excluded), down by 74% to €1bn in 2009 (from €3.9bn in 2008).
Statistics by country of portfolio company – Market statistics
- Divestments at cost from UK private-equity-backed companies amounted to €2.6bn or 24% of the European total. Exits from German and French portfolio companies amounted to €2.1bn (19% of the European total) each.
- Similar to industry statistics, write-offs accounted for 36% of the total amount divested at cost, and 22% of the companies exited.
- In the venture segment, divestments by trade sales accounted for 31% of the total amount divested at cost, while write-offs made up 21% of the total. In the buyout & growth segment, trade sales ranked second by amount at cost (32% of the total), but came first by number of companies exited (156 or 22% of the total).
- By amount, most divestments came from consumer goods & retail and business & industrial products (21% and 16% of the total respectively).
- By number of companies divested, business & industrial products came first, followed by computer & consumer electronics (20% and 15% respectively).
Charts
Source
These figures are extracted from the EVCA Annual Survey of Pan-European Private Equity & Venture Capital Activity 2009 contained within the EVCA Yearbook 2010, which also includes an editorial section giving accounts of the industry today and providing a valuable illustration to the statistics.
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