February saw 23 PE-backed acquisitions across Europe, representing a 44% increase year-over-year.
Number of announced PE-backed acquisitions over the past 12 months*
- Number of PE-backed Acquisitions
Roll-Up Market Insights
With 23 acquisitions, the number of PE-backed acquisitions decreased by 12% compared to the previous month.
With 11 acquisitions, the UK was the country with the most PE-backed activity, followed by Finland, Spain and Germany.
In February, all active acquirer conducted one acquisition.
Software (17), Consulting (5) and Manufacturing and Health Care (4 each) were the most mentioned acquired industries.
This month’s case study: Ryan – Redefining global tax efficiency
Founded in 1991 in Dallas, USA, Ryan is a tax services, software, and technology firm that offers tax solutions to help companies manage and improve their tax functions.
Backed by Ares Management, Neuberger Berman and Onex Ryan has pursued an active buy-and-build strategy, announcing 22 acquisitions since 2020.
- Ryan's Acquisitions
Its latest move came in February 2026, with the acquisition of WYM Real Estate (founded in 2012 in Edinburgh, UK). WYM provides property advisory services for the commercial sector.
Strategic acquisitions enable Ryan to rapidly scale its proprietary tax platform. By combining deep domain expertise with automated compliance data, the company creates a centralized efficiency engine that optimizes tax outcomes for multinational corporations and maximizes financial performance.
Ryan’s Strategy for global market dominance
Ryan’s most recent PE-backed growth demonstrates the company’s ambitions to become the leading global tax technology ecosystem through targeted technology acquisitions and market expansion. By integrating tax software specialists and industry-leading experts, the company is transforming itself from a recovery-focused firm into a data-driven powerhouse that bridges the gap between complex global regulations and corporate profitability
Case study:
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In 1991, Ryan was founded in Dallas with a focus on tax recovery, disrupting the traditional market of established accounting firms.
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Since 2018, Onex Corporation and later Ares Management (2022) provided significant capital injections to fuel inorganic growth, digital transformation, and real-time tax analytics.
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In 2025/2026, Ryan completed the $518 million acquisition of Altus Group’s property tax division and secured a minority stake from Neuberger Berman at a ~$7 billion valuation, establishing itself as a global leader.
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These moves enable Ryan to scale a proprietary tax platform by combining deep domain expertise with automated compliance data — optimizing tax outcomes for multinational corporations fully automatically through AI.
*All data from CrunchBase, as of March 4, 2026.
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