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A column chart that displays U.S. leveraged buyout deal volume annually from 1995 to 2025. Deal values range from $15.6 billion in 2001 to of $397.2 billion in 2007. After a drop in 2008, values rise again, reaching $397.48 billion as of Dec. 22, 2025, above the financial crisis era.

U.S. leveraged buyout deal volume 

U.S. leveraged buyout values hit their highest on record — even above highs preceding the 2008 financial crisis — amid a surge in megadeals in 2025.

The big picture: Private equity dealmakers inked $397.5 billion worth of LBOs in 2025 — inching above 2007's record-setting $397.2 billion, per Dealogic data.

By the numbers: The average LBO deal this year was valued at $517.8 million — the highest on record in Dealogic's data going back to 1995.

September saw Electronic Arts acquired in the largest LBO ever, at $55 billion, and in December, Permira and Warburg Pincus agreed to acquire Clearwater Analytics for $8.4 billion. 

Between the lines: LBO activity has been driven by the rapid growth of private credit and an influx of newer investors — including insurance capital and sovereign wealth funds — into the asset class.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund played a major role in the EA deal.

The flexibility and speed around private credit, meanwhile, has become an attractive alternative to bank loans — allowing for larger deals.

What they're saying: "There's always a desire for larger deals — the amount of time to buy a small company and monitor it is the same, it doesn't scale," says Kirkland & Ellis partner Jennifer Perkins of last year's skew toward megadeals.

The big question: Despite private credit risk concerns, investors remain worried about how to exit high valuation investments.

IPOs are still the most obvious route for megadeals — but that could also mean more consortium buyouts, spin-offs, sponsor rollovers, and newer kinds of dealmaking in coming years.

The bottom line: Private equity investors were already getting creative with their exits in recent years, amid a DPI drought. That streak will have to continue in coming years.

LBO deal volume hits all-time high with EA take-private

The EA take private drove the year's totals.

U.S. leveraged buyout values hit their highest on record — even above highs preceding the 2008 financial crisis — amid a surge in megadeals in 2025.The big picture: Private equity dealmakers inked $397.5 billion worth of LBOs in 2025 — inching above 2007&#x27;s record-setting $397.2 billion, per Dealogic data.

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LBO deal volume hits all-time high with EA take-private

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