What is the mid-cap market like in Germany in 2025 up to date?

We see a strong primary exit pipeline from the German Mittelstand, attracting selected interest from private equity and strategic players at relatively high price levels despite limited competition. In contrast, the secondary pipeline appears somewhat slower.

In this context, strategic interest is particularly strong from the United States, with investors seeking to expand. This coincides with a higher valuation landscape in the US domestic market.

Regarding private equity, we observe more niche players taking a fresh perspective, often coming from non-mainstream backgrounds. Typical buyout funds appear to be more cautious despite their available dry powder, focusing on managing their existing portfolios and devoting more attention to buy-and-build transactions than to new platform investments.

Given these factors and the overarching geopolitical dynamics, we are curious to see where the transactional market will head over the course of the year. The prerequisites could certainly be worse. Market players simply need to get their horsepower on the ground.

In this context please also note the linked article in Mergermarket, where I had the honor of being interviewed (apologies for the paywall).