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Welcome to the 2022 edition of McKinsey’s annual review of private markets investing. Our ongoing research on the industry’s dynamics and performance has revealed several insights, including the following trends: 

Private markets bounced back in 2021. After a year of pandemic-driven turbulence that suppressed fundraising and deal activity, private markets rebounded across the board. Fundraising was up by nearly 20 percent year over year to reach a record of almost $1.2 trillion; deal makers were busier than ever, deploying more than $3.5 trillion across asset classes; and assets under management (AUM) grew to an all-time high of $9.8 trillion as of July, up from $7.4 trillion the year before. Dollars continued to fund higher risk-return strategies in private equity (PE) and infrastructure and rotated into riskier strategies in real estate.

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By just about any measure, private equity set a remarkable new standard for itself in 2021. Buyout deal value and exits shot to stunning new records. General partners (GPs) had the secondbest fund-raising year in the industry’s history, capping a five-year run that has netted $1.8 trillion in new buyout capital (see Figure 1). Funds boosted distributions to limited partners (LPs) and continued to deliver returns outpacing any other asset class. All in all—and despite the continued economic uncertainty brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic—private equity put a bold exclamation point on what has turned out to be a decade of outstanding performance.

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