2024 Recap: The Top Stories of the Year
We take a look back at the top Middle Market Growth stories of the year
2024 was the year M&A dealmakers got creative to push more deals across the finish line and return capital to LPs. While strategics added pressure on private equity firms to transact, investors also drove up interest in NAV lending and other strategies to extend the lifecycle of their holdings.
The top stories of the year reflect these trends and others. Rewind back to the biggest Middle Market Growth headlines of 2025.
With 98% of CEOs surveyed by EY expecting to be actively engaged in strategic M&A transactions this year, and with EY forecasting corporate M&A volume to see a 12% recovery in 2024, corporate dealmaking is headed for a strong year after a sluggish 2023. But emerging data suggests an uptick for M&A activity, and strategics are poised to get on-board with the resurgence—particularly as corporates sit on substantial amounts of capital they are eager to deploy. Read more.
Written by Cynthia Kincaid
Water and electricity don’t mix—except in private equity portfolios. Producing, storing and managing those two commodities has emerged at the center for middle-market portfolios for infrastructure-focused private equity firms. Buoyed by both Federal funding and urgent climate-change responses, the infrastructure space—including water, energy and a diverse landscape of other growing niches—is proving that if you want to build it, equity will come. Read more.
Written by Joanne Cleaver
Patience is a virtue—and one that private equity limited partners have demonstrated fairly well since merger and acquisition activity began to retreat in 2022, locking up their money for the past couple of years. But it seems that patience has finally run out. No longer content to wait for ideal market conditions, LPs are pressuring PE managers to sell off portfolio holdings to finally recapture some equity. Read more.
Written by Britt Erica Tunick
NAV lending seemed to burst on the investment scene as “the popular new kid on the block” this year, with many stories written about its usage, firms coming out with new funds and lawyers debating its merits. In a tough market environment like the one we’ve seen in the last few years, where exits are light and companies might need more runway before an exit, firms have been using NAV loans, continuation funds and other strategies to extend the lifecycle of their holdings. Read more.
Written by Anastasia Donde
Private equity firms are well versed in the ins and outs of acquiring companies. But a growing number of PE firms are learning what it is like to be on the other side of the equation as acquirees themselves. As limited partners increasingly lose patience with an idle mergers and acquisitions market that has locked investments up far longer than expected and stalled returns, instances of PE firms as acquisition targets—whether partially or outright—have been on the rise. Read more.
Written by Britt Erica Tunick
Middle Market Growth is produced by the Association for Corporate Growth. To learn more about the organization and how to become a member, visit www.acg.org.
