Sponsor-to-Sponsor Exits Dominate the UK but Hit a Decade Low in the US
Sponsors selling to each other made up 62% of UK exits this year. US sponsor-to-sponsor exits hit 94 deals in Q2, the fewest in at least a decade.
NEW YORK, September 22, 2026. PitchBook reports that sponsors buying from each other made up 62% of UK PE exits in 2026. That is up from 39.2% in 2023. In the US, the same route posted its weakest quarter in at least a decade.
The UK numbers come from a PitchBook analyst note on the country's exit market. UK PE exit value hit £20.9 billion across 131 deals in the first four months. PitchBook said sponsors selling to each other led the uptick, while the IPO market stayed dismal.
The US picture is different. PitchBook's Q2 US PE Breakdown put exits at $102.6 billion, down about 46% from Q1. Sponsor-to-sponsor sales fell 57% to $24.5 billion. The count sank 38% to 94 deals, the lowest quarterly mark in at least a decade.
Corporate buyers pulled back too. Asset sales to corporates fell 63% to $38.5 billion, and their count slipped 21% to 107. Even at that pace, corporate buyers closed 13 more exits than sponsors did. Our August 31 piece on trade sales covered why strategics had become the exit of first resort.
PitchBook described a persistent valuation impasse in the sponsor-to-sponsor market, especially for assets bought during the pandemic. Sellers still want a price that justifies what they paid. Buyers examine deals more closely and bargain harder. "Now we are seeing a decent amount of deferred purchase price mechanisms, which hedge the performance of sellers relative to their underwritten valuation, through earnouts, seller notes or other structures," said Andrew Silver, an attorney at Much Shelist who advises PE firms on acquisitions and exits.
PwC's Eric Janson described the pressure behind it. "You've got to have a little more conviction to do a deal, because the days of making your money on the back end from multiple arbitrage are done," he said.
Some of the volume moved to public markets. PE firms brought 12 US-based portfolio companies public in the second quarter, double the first. Those offerings totaled $27.6 billion in post-money valuation. IPO exits made up roughly 31% of US exit value.
The two markets fit together. In the UK, where the IPO door is shut, sponsors trade assets among themselves. In the US, where it has reopened, some sellers are choosing it instead. Our August 19 exit backlog piece said sponsor-to-sponsor sales and continuation vehicles were doing more of the work. In the US, that lane got a lot narrower this spring.