SPONSOR ACTIVITY BAROMETER: Issue #56

Research evidence excerpt

Equity Research

10 August 2026 | 6:07AM BST

SPONSOR ACTIVITY BAROMETER

Issue #56

Our Barometer continues to track at its strongest levels since the 2021-22 period,

with the broad picture remaining one of ongoing improvement across private

markets deal activity. Notably, the strongest contributions continue to come from

indicators tracking deployment and exit activity, where we highlight announced deal

volumes in particular. In July, total monthly announced global sponsor-led deal

volumes across both deployment and exits were up year-on-year (c.6-7%), a

continuation of the positive trends seen through the first half of this year. Further,

IPO activity across both the US and Europe continued to contribute positively, with

LTM IPO volumes significantly higher year-on-year. Against this, we highlight some

modest softness across certain indicators within our financing component of the

Barometer, including credit issuance and price volatility. On the former, LTM CLO

issuance volumes have fallen slightly vs this time last year, albeit against a strong YoY

comparator.

Oliver Carruthers, CFA

+44(20)7552-9364 |

Goldman Sachs International

Anshika Mehrotra

+1(212)934-7679 |

Goldman Sachs India SPL

Naimeh Sabourian

+44(20)7051-0573 |

Goldman Sachs International

Tom Ferguson

+44(20)7051-0547 |

Goldman Sachs International

We update our Sponsor Activity Barometer for the latest weekly datapoints. We

track 15 high frequency data series which aim to capture changes in conditions and

dynamics that contribute to deal activity across private markets. The series reflects

indicators across financing costs and execution certainty, the level of precedent

transactions, and changes in the level of capital available for deployment across the

ecosystem, among other factors. Furthermore, we detail the breakdown of

datapoints within our heatmap, which highlights improving/deteriorating factors at

any given point in time.

Goldman Sachs does and seeks to do business with companies covered in its research reports. As a result, investors

should be aware that the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this report.

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