New Deloitte Report: Asia Pacific Private Equity Almanac 2026 Highlights Shifting Investment Playbooks for Uncertain Times

Hong Kong, 2 March 2026 – Deloitte released its latest Private Equity Almanac 2026 Report revealing how an "age of uncertainty" in 2025 reshaped dealmaking across the region and pushed private equity (PE) investors to rethink their playbooks for growth, resilience and liquidity in 2026.

The report finds that optimism at the start of 2025 quickly gave way to caution as tariff shocks, geopolitical tensions and rising government intervention disrupted the outlook for M&A, with the announcement of so called “Liberation Day” tariffs in April prompting investment committees to pause new deal screening contributing to a sharp quarter-on-quarter fall in deal value. New deal activity slowed substantially with Asia Pacific private equity deal value plunging in Q2 2025, down 37% on Q1. 

As the year progressed, private equity firms acclimatised to making deals in a more uncertain environment, with 61% of Asia Pacific PE buyout deal value ultimately occurring in the second half of the year and total deployment reaching US$127 billion in 2025, down 14% from 2024. 

“2025 was a year when uncertainty stopped being a tail‑risk and became the base case for investors,” said Sam Padgett, Deloitte Asia Pacific’s Private Equity Origination Leader. “What we see in this year’s Almanac is a market that has adjusted quickly by leaning into midmarket deals, defensive sectors, operational value creation and new liquidity tools and is now better positioned to deploy capital in a more uncertain global investment environment."

Key findings from the 2026 Asia Pacific Private Equity Almanac

The report highlights major themes that defined Asia Pacific PE activity in 2025 and are expected to shape the market in 2026:​

A back-weighted year: Persistent tariff volatility, heightened geopolitical risk and growing state intervention slowed new PE deployment in the first half of 2025, with deal value plunging in the second quarter as sponsors struggled to price transactions amid constantly changing trade measures and elevated execution risk on large, cross-border deals. As market participants adjusted and pressure to deploy capital reasserted itself, the second half of 2025 accounted for 61% of deal value for the year.  

Changing plays for a changing world: Despite a surge in Asia Pacific M&A mega-deals, 2025 saw Asia Pacific PE appetite for large‑scale transactions weaken. Funds instead pivoted towards smaller and mid-market opportunities, including bolt-on acquisitions that reinforced existing portfolio companies, reduced regulatory exposure, and focused on businesses with more domestically anchored cash flows.​ 

Defensive positioning: PE investors increasingly prioritised defensive sectors such as healthcare and transport or that provide the infrastructure for the anticipated AI boom without the unpredictability of straight-up AI investments. Asia Pacific healthcare deal count rose 21% year-on-year to 133 transactions in 2025 with deal value increasing to US$19.6 billion and a notable tilt towards services-oriented models with resilient demand. Transport and logistics deals also increased, supported by supply-chain localisation and demand for mission-critical distribution infrastructure. 

AI everywhere – but unevenly adopted:  AI has become a strategic imperative for PE firms, impacting, or threatening to impact, every aspect of the investment lifecycle from deal sourcing to value creation and exit. While 86% of corporate and private equity leaders surveyed by Deloitte have adopted generative AI, PE firms are leading the charge on capital allocation with 88% reporting investments exceeding US$1 million, compared to 77% of their corporate counterparts.¹ Some PEs report plans to expedite exits to sell before the anticipated AI disruption hits them.

Diverging trajectories across Asia Pacific

The Almanac finds that Asia Pacific is moving further away from a single, unified PE story, with major markets following increasingly distinct paths.​

Japan contributed over 26% of Asia Pacific private equity investment value in 2025 (versus 20% for China and 13% for India), including seven of the top 10 deals in Asia Pacific in 2025. Japan’s total US dollar deal value in 2025 rose by 81% from 2024, or 91% in local currency. All indications are that it will remain an attractive investment destination for some time to come. 

With strong underlying growth and active IPO markets, India’s private equity landscape in 2025 was characterised by a cautious but optimistic rebound. Total deal value edged up to US$16 billion, though deal count declined by 8% (from 137 to 126 transactions). The exit environment followed a similar trend of high value but low volume.

China saw relatively strong buyout investment activity in 2025, driven largely by state-backed and domestic private funds amid reduced exposure from some North American Limited Partners. In 2025, six of the top 10 investments were made by local firms, while only four involved global sponsors. Where global sponsors did participate, they often co‑invested or took non‑control positions; and notably, Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds continue to play a role in many of the largest China deals.

Among other geographies in Asia Pacific, Australia posted a very strong year for private equity investment in 2025, with deal value reaching US$21.9 billion, albeit down from US$31.7 billion the year before, and activity weighted toward the second half of the year, when 65% of total volume was deployed. 

Similarly, Korea also saw activity accelerate in the second half, following the country’s presidential election in June, with deal value rising from US$6.7 billion in the first half to US$14.3 billion for the full year, though still below the US$18.7 billion of 2024. 

Elsewhere, Southeast Asia's deal activity remained subdued, with buyout investment dropping to under US$6 billion, a figure representing only 65% of last year's total. 

Outlook: markets primed for a stronger year 

Looking ahead, the report identifies five trends likely to shape Asia Pacific private equity in 2026: 

1. Sustained momentum in Japan; driven by continuing market reforms and investor confidence.
2. Broader adoption of shared portfolio operations and cross-portfolio service centres as firms seek efficiency and scale.
3. Continued emphasis on mid-market and bolt-on opportunities, reflecting investors' focus on targeted growth strategies.
4. Ongoing Limited Partners (LP) churn reshaping the investor landscape, with sovereign wealth funds and secondary buyers playing increasingly significant roles and retail money coming into more funds.
5. Rise of alternative fund structures and technologies, including evergreen funds with frequent opportunities for LP movements and adaptive fee structures, as the industry prepares for a growing retail investor base.

“Investors are no longer waiting for uncertainty to subside. They are building strategies designed to thrive in it,” added Padgett. “With dry powder still substantial, active trade buyers and new pools of capital opening up, Asia Pacific private equity enters 2026 with both the discipline and the firepower to make this a strong year for value creation and deployment should the macro environment allow it.”

To access the full report and learn more about the findings, please visit https://www.deloitte.com/ap/en/perspectives/2026-asia-pacific-private-equity-almanac.html

[1] Deloitte, 2025 M&A Generative AI Study