Four of the largest US private equity groups invested more than $160 billion in the last quarter in preparation for an anticipated revival in deal activities. Ares, Apollo, Blackstone, and KKR announced that they collectively invested $162 billion between April and June, with Apollo accounting for more than 40 percent of the total amount.

Company executives stated that they are preparing for an increase in takeover and merger activities as the US Federal Reserve is about to lower interest rates. 'The deal market is back,' said Scott Nuttall, Co-Head of KKR. 'This year, we not only have an open market but also a pent-up supply of deals coming to the market. Therefore, we are optimistic.'

Private equity firms have more than $2 trillion in so-called "dry powder" according to data provider Preqin – capital that has been committed but not yet invested. However, an 18-month hiatus in deals caused by the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes also meant that firms struggled to sell existing investments and return capital to their investors.

There are now signs that the deal freeze is beginning to thaw. According to data provider LSEG, buyout activities have risen by 28 percent to $471 billion so far this year. However, this is still far below the boom years of 2021 and 2022. The sluggish market for pure private equity deals has led major alternative asset managers to instead invest capital in credit and infrastructure projects.

Apollo, which invested 70 billion US dollars in the quarter, allocated 11 billion US dollars for financing Intel's construction of a chip factory in Ireland. More than 13 percent of the 34 billion US dollars that Blackstone invested in the quarter was used to anchor a 7.5 billion US dollar debt financing package for the technology company CoreWeave.

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"Since the quarter ended in June, there have been a number of high-profile buyouts. Apollo closed a series of billion-dollar deals, including the acquisitions of the British parcel delivery group Evri and the gaming company Everi. Co-President Scott Kleinman estimated that the company has closed five deals worth a total of $15 billion, including debt, in recent months. 'Our deal pipeline looks strong from here,' he said.

KKR announced the acquisition of broker-dealer Janney Montgomery Scott, the $4.8 billion acquisition of educational technology company Instructure, and a joint venture with T-Mobile to purchase broadband provider Metronet. This week, private equity firms TowerBrook Capital Partners and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice won a takeover battle for US healthcare IT provider R1 RCM with a bid worth $9 billion, which is expected to be one of the largest buyout deals of the year.

My briefcase indicator is still full and suggests there should be increasing solid transactional activities," said Jon Gray, President of Blackstone, referring to the number of deal term sheets in his briefcase. "The fact that we are seeing interest rates drop, markets become more favorable, and more people consider selling assets makes me believe that we will see more once the IPO market reopens.

The credit-focused investment manager Ares also reported an increase in new buyout activities. CEO Michael Arougheti told the Financial Times that banks and private credit funds were increasingly being used to finance new buyout packages, instead of just refinancing existing debt or financing small acquisitions.

Other private investment groups, including Brookfield, Carlyle, and TPG, will announce their earnings next week.