For PE firms holding 2020 to 2021 vintage
For most assets acquired during 2020 or 2021, an acceptable exit depends on the buyer that pays for what the business adds, not the sponsor that pays todays market multiple. Vequity names that strategic 12 to 36 months before launch.
170,000
deals analyzed over 26 years
2.3M
company profiles, mapped by capability
1,900+
firms and portfolio companies with declared proprietary acquisition criteria
470 investment firms and 1,481 portfolio companies
32,000 unsold PE-backed companies, worth $3.8T
~7 years average buyout hold at exit, up from 5 to 6 in 2010 to 2021
14% LP distributions as a share of NAV in 2025, lowest since 2008 to 2009
Bain & Company, Global Private Equity Report 2026
Why the exit is stuck
Three bids. Only one clears the mark.
The likely buyer are the same active sponsors everyone calls first, and they pay the current market multiple. The premium buyer is the strategic whose gap this asset fills, often in an adjacent sector, and it pays for the gap. Vequity finds and scores both separately.
Same-industry consolidator
Pays the market multiple for a business that looks like its own
Sponsor-to-sponsor bid
Pays for standalone earnings
Strategic whose gap this asset fills
Pays for the capability, customers or channel it lacks
Case study
The premium buyer is two degrees away.
About one in four winning strategic acquirers comes from an adjacent sector, where no code screen and no banker’s memory looks (Vequity analysis of about 170,000 labeled transactions, 2026).
Who a standard process reaches, and who never sees the deal
With Intelligence / SPS deal-visibility research; Vequity labeled-transaction corpus and retrospective process validation.
Across the hold
Exit intelligence from day one, not from launch day.
Your banker runs the process. Vequity makes sure the whole buyer universe is in it.
01 · Day one
Exit Watch
Included in Portfolio Coverage
A standing quarterly demand digest on every covered company: the universe of buyers and their evolving appetite for assets like yours.
02 · Pre-launch
Exit Radar Pro
12 to 36 months before launch
The named strategic and sponsor buyers most likely to pay a premium, with live intent scores and movement alerts, so you position the asset against what they are buying.
03 · Process launch
Exit Buyer List
At process launch
A comprehensive, verified, banker-ready buyer universe, with each buyer’s strategic rationale.
Pricing is on one page, with everything included and the founding terms: see pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Why not just run a broader process?
Can you do this on an asset we are not selling for two years?
Do you replace our banker?
How do you know which strategic pays a premium?
Find the strategic who pays for the gap.
Bring your hardest exit to a 30-minute onboarding session. We have already done the work.