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Private equity in emerging markets is doing fewer, but bigger deals

  • EMIS
  • 2 min read

Sponsors are concentrating capital in digital infrastructure, healthcare and logistics platforms which they see as more resilient in the current environment.

Through the first three quarters of 2026, private equity sponsors globally completed 655 transactions, of which 403 had disclosed values totaling USD 86.1bn, according to EMIS data – down 21% in total deal count compared to the same period of 2025, even as deal value rose 35%. Higher financing costs and a slower exit environment have made sponsors more selective, favoring assets with visible cash flows and scale.

Regional figures mostly point to similar trends. In Emerging Asia, 279 deals generated USD 45.4bn through Q3 2026, down 32% and up 46% y/y respectively. Digital infrastructure accounts for much of that concentration. One example: Coatue Management-led USD 2.5bn investment in Singapore-based DayOne Data Centers, part of a broader wave of megadeals funneling capital into the region’s hyperscale buildout.

The same concentration is visible in EMIS data on Latin America. Dealmakers made 119 deals in the region, 26% fewer than in 2025, while deal value rose 10% to USD 17.8bn. Warburg Pincus’s USD 1bn minority investment in Brazilian agribusiness platform Global Eggs , announced in March 2026, is representative of the deals getting done: large, hard-asset-backed and concentrated in established production infrastructure.

In CEE, more capital is chasing more deals. Volume rose 18%, to 259 deals, while value grew even faster, up 50% to USD 19.9bn – meaning capital is both broadening and concentrating at once. Healthcare and industrials are absorbing much of the increase. In the Czech Republic, growth investor Everita Capital acquired a majority stake in Clintrial, a Prague-based clinical trial centre, backing the company’s expansion into new therapeutic areas and a broader network of clients and physicians. In Poland, FedEx-led and PE-backed EUR 9.8bn take-private of logistics group InPost  applies the same logic at an even greater scale: both deals use an existing platform to absorb smaller, fragmented competitors rather than building new capacity from scratch.

Taken together, the data suggest sponsors are not avoiding emerging markets so much as narrowing where they’re willing to commit capital. We see investors moving toward assets that are already scaled, or can be scaled quickly through consolidation.

Whether this concentration deepens in 2027 likely hinges on financing costs and exit markets. If rate cuts materialise and exit windows reopen, sponsors sitting on dry powder may return to smaller, more numerous deals, restoring some of the volume lost this year. If financing stays tight, fewer targets and larger checks could become the new baseline for how private equity engages with these markets.

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