Welcome to the 26th issue of the EMEA Private Equity Market Snapshot (PEMS), a quarterly publication focusing on the Private Equity (PE) market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Economies may be re-opening across Europe, but as our analysis shows, it is clear that deal-making activity in EMEA has not yet recovered from the COVID-19 shut-down. Not only did the region hit record lows in Q2, but previously high-performing sectors – IT in particular – witnessed stark reductions in deal value and aggregate capital deployed.

It's not all doom and gloom, however. As human behaviour shifts in response to both temporary and permanent changes caused by the pandemic, certain sectors are experiencing rapid growth, like Education Technology (EdTech). From displaced school-aged children to adults with new flexibility and freedom to pursue education opportunities, EdTech is serving a whole new segment hungry for non-traditional modes of learning. While this is a global movement somewhat dominated by the North-American and Asia-Pacific regions, there are a number of European EdTech players to watch.

We close where we begin, asking how COVID-19 is impacting deal-making activity. This time, however, our analysis is based on a survey we conducted in July 2020 to help us understand how the PE community sees the pandemic affecting their immediate and near-term investment activity. The results show a clear differentiation by geographic location. On the whole, we can see a distinct link between respondents' perspectives and the specific impact COVID-19 has had, or is continuing to have, on their region.