From PJT’s Paul Taubman Sees an M&A Rebound as Difficult Until Rates Are Cut · · Bloomberg Television
“A lot of that is private equity involvement has dried up. Until private equity gets more forward leaning, until they're prepared to sell a lot of the assets that they have, until they're prepared to recycle their capital and make new investments, I think you're going to have this stuck environment.”
On , Paul B.s., Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at PJT PARTNERS INC, spoke about private equity during PJT’s Paul Taubman Sees an M&A Rebound as Difficult Until Rates Are Cut on Bloomberg Television.
Paul Taubman, chairman and CEO of PJT Partners, has described the M&A environment as being in a "stuck" state, attributing the slowdown to the end of easy money conditions and a pullback by private equity firms. He stated in September 2024 that until interest rate cuts occur, it will be difficult to get the M&A marketplace moving, and he characterized the period as an "M&A recession" that will take a long time to recover from. Taubman also noted that private equity firms are "exquisite at controlling exit timings" and have long runways, which he said will contribute to a "very, very slow build back up" in deal activity. Despite the challenging near-term environment, Taubman has emphasized that PJT Partners is pursuing "quite significant" hiring, describing the slowdown as a conducive environment to recruit top talent due to lower switching costs for bankers. He reported that the firm has tripled its headcount and revenues over eight years, and stated that PJT Partners sees "tremendous opportunity to grow" as it remains a fraction of the size of larger competitors. In the third quarter of 2025, Taubman reported record results for the firm in terms of revenue, adjusted pre-tax income, and adjusted EPS.