Private Equity Titans Turn to Europe for Mega-Deals

The U.S. is no longer the center of the private equity universe.

Firms announced $143 billion of deals outside the U.S. in the first half, or almost 60% of the world total, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s on track for the highest full-year proportion in almost two decades. And for the first time since 2003, no U.S. targets were among the five largest deals.