Private equity deal news and insights from the London newsroom

Bridgepoint’s Xavier Robert says sellers are reducing price expectations; Dealmakers keen on automation

Good morning, Nina Lindholm here with the Europe Wire from the London newsroom.

A mismatch between buyers and sellers has been a thorn in the side of dealmaking for some time now. This morning, Xavier Robert, partner and chief investment officer at Bridgepoint, tells us his view on the valuation gap and his dealmaking outlook for 2025, as part of a NEXUS 2025 preview interview.

We stick with looking ahead to finish, as we explore which subsectors dealmakers are particularly keen on going into the new year, based on our ongoing Outlook interview series.

Mind the gap

Xavier Robert, partner and chief investment officer at Bridgepoint, is one of the panelists at PEI Group’s NEXUS 2025 conference in Orlando from March 10-12. He’ll be speaking on day two of the conference, on a panel titled: ‘The dealmaking sweet spot – Life in the middle market’.

PE Hub Europe editor Craig McGlashan caught up with Robert, who is based in the private equity firm’s London headquarters, at the end of 2024 to hear how mid-market investing has been performing and how he expects the dealmaking outlook to evolve in the next 12 months.

Premium subscribers can learn more here.

I highly recommend checking out the full interview, as it covers more of Robert’s outlook for 2025, what subsectors Bridgepoint finds interesting and the firm’s 2024 highlights. You can also listen to an audio version of the interview – a great option if you happen to be on the move this morning.

In an earlier NEXUS 2025 preview, PE Hub editor-in-chief MK Flynn touched base with Orlando Bravo, the co-founder and managing partner of tech-focused private equity firm Thoma Bravo. You can find their discussion here.

For more information on NEXUS 2025, take a look at the event page here.

Note: Bridgepoint owns PEI Group, the publisher of PE Hub.

Better processes

Automation and workflow efficiency are among the themes that have stood out to me from PE Hub’s ongoing Outlook series.

You can find out what dealmakers are saying about those themes in the full Wire coverage here.

That’s all from me this morning. MK Flynn is on the US Wire duty later today and Craig McGlashan will be with you tomorrow with the Europe edition, as we settle into our new Wire schedule.

Cheers,

Nina

Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...

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“But what you’ve seen is that because people need to sell not only their star assets, but also their B assets, there the valuation gap has reduced and you start to see private equity funds accepting that the market pays lower multiples for lower quality because they need to sell at some point.”

— Xavier Robert, partner and chief investment officer, Bridgepoint

Today's letter was prepared by Nina Lindholm

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