• Bolt-ons account for 61% of sponsor deals in 2026 YTD
• Add-on/platform buyout ratio shoots to 2.4x in 2026
• Co-invest roll-up plays show GPs’ desire to keep LPs aligned

European sponsors are running out of good ways to sell. So instead, they are buying – to bulk up the companies they already own.

Buy-and-build is not a new strategy, being part of the toolkit since at least the 1990s means it is almost synonymous with the industry itself. Yet 2026 has kicked off with add-on acquisitions in Europe running at a pace unmatched in the historical record.

Year‑to‑date figures show the number of bolt‑on transactions rising far faster than both new platform investments and exits – a striking change from the pre‑pandemic period, when add‑ons broadly moved in proportion with platform activity.

The ratio of bolt-on acquisitions to new platform entries has climbed from around 0.7x in the early 2010s to 1.8x in 2025, with 2026 tracking at 2.4x year-to-date, according to Mergermarket data.

It appears the pandemic was an inflection point, with rate rises in its aftermath entrenching the trend. From 2010, the ratio first topped 1 in 2021 and has stayed above that level ever since.

An old tactic has become the dominant one.

Source: Mergermarket, data correct as of 13-Apr-26

The numbers are stark. In 2025, bolt-ons accounted for 55% of all sponsor-led deal count in the region – up from 50% in 2024 and 43% as recently as 2021. The first months of 2026 have already pushed that share to 61%, with 916 add-ons already announced.

Bolt-ons now outnumber new platform entries and realisations combined.

The exit drought is the clear driver – realisations have flatlined with IPO windows open only intermittently and secondary buyouts still gummed up by post-2022 bid-ask spreads. Bolt-ons have become the natural response.

Doubling down on scale is logical – and the appeal is straightforward. Let’s assume a sponsor buys a EUR 30m EBITDA platform at 10x, then adds three EUR 10m targets at 6x, bringing the blended multiple down to about 8x. If basic synergies lift combined EBITDA to EUR 70m and the enlarged group exits at the original 10x, you derive MOIC of 1.5x and an unlevered return of 46% as a base – reducing the heavy lifting leverage and growth need to undertake to derive industry-standard returns.

On paper, scale does much of the work. The arithmetic is visible in how some of the most active buyers are operating.

IVC Evidensia – EQT’s veterinary clinic IPO-candidate – acquires around 200 clinics a year at 8x-10x multiples when its comparables have been trading on markets at 18x. Vet roll-ups have, however, been one of the harder sells with VetPartners, Vetopia, and Altano still unrealised.

Financing mechanics reinforce the pattern. Where new LBOs require fresh capital structures, add-ons can be financed through accordion features, delayed-draw term loans baked into existing facilities or incremental facilities with lenders already comfortable with the credit.

For sponsors weighing where to put the next euro, less friction is meaningful.

This calculus is shifting how new platforms are being structured from the start. I Squared Capital, which announced its acquisition of Swedish safety solutions provider Ramudden in January, deliberately took on less leverage than the market would have supported, which preserves capital for an immediate acquisition programme.

Source: Mergermarket, data correct as of 13-Apr-26

That shift extends to the fund level. Sponsors have always reserved a portion of commitments for follow-ons but the size of that reserve and the share being deployed into bolt-ons are both rising in newer vintages.

Co-investment programmes – historically used to upsize platform deals – are now routinely channelled into roll-ups. Some GPs have gone even further, raising dedicated buy-and-build or ‘consolidation’ vehicles alongside their flagship funds.

Last year, Revaia raised a dedicated EUR 40m vehicle to re-invest in French healthcare software provider Hublo to support its long-term consolidation play, while Alantra Private Equity’s continuation fund for Health in Code allocates a dedicated EUR 40m war chest for acquisitions.

Other portfolio companies undertaking aggressive inorganic expansion include Relevi, HIPP Technology, Sopran, and Eugin.

Yet buy‑and‑build has always been easier to model than to execute and numerous scaled platforms have matured, come to market, and not traded given integration issues, or having attracted the attention of regulators.

The data also suggests that sponsors are kicking the can, further bulking up existing buy-and-builds rather than starting new ones. In an M&A environment ever more defined by scale, this may be the smartest move.

In 1Q26, financial sponsor exits across EMEA below of EUR 500m aggregated to volume of just EUR 4.05bn, down 21% year-on-year, according to Mergermarket data. Even with the caveat that deals in the lower mid-market often do not disclose transaction values, that is a stark contrast to the overall 38% hike in EMEA M&A volumes over the quarter.

Those GPs whose fund term expirations allow may do well to follow the pack and add muscle mass to their platform plays.

After all, the dominant sponsor transaction in Europe is no longer buying a portfolio company – it is buying an asset to add to a portfolio company.