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23 October 2025 – At the end of Q3’25, global PE deal volume was $1.5 trillion — on pace to reach a four-year high should investment remain steady through Q4’25. The buoyant investment is notable given the significant decline in deal volume — from 15,083 deals in the first three quarters of 2024 to 13,574 in the first three quarters of 2025.

After some pullback in PE investment in Q2’25 — driven largely by geopolitical tensions and uncertainties related to US tariffs — Q3’25 saw global PE investment reach $537.1 billion according to KPMG’s Q3’25 Pulse of Private Equity. The buoyant deal value was helped significantly by three very large public-to-private transactions in the US: Electronic Arts ($54.6 billion), Air Lease ($28.2 billion), and Dayforce ($12.4 billion).

The Americas accounted for 60% of global PE value in Q3’25 ($322.9 billion), and just under half of the total number of deals (1,977). Of this total, the US accounted for $300.2 billion across 1,971 deals. The EMA region came a distant second—with $178.3 billion in PE investment across 1,736 deals during Q3’25, led by the $7.7 billion buyout of UK-based Pension Insurance Corporation — while Asia saw $30.6 billion in PE investment across 253 deals — led by the $2.1 billion buyout of Australia-based Insignia Financial.

At a sector level, the TMT sector attracted the largest share of PE investment globally in the first three quarters of 2025 ($469 billion), although the level of investment was tracking well shy of the $647.3 billion seen in 2024. Meanwhile, PE investment in the infrastructure and transportation space was already $126.3 billion at the end of Q3’25 — far ahead of the $99.4 billion and $98.7 billion seen during 2023 and 2024 respectively. 

The designers of a cryptocurrency launched by the US first lady, Melania Trump, in January were accused in court filings on Tuesday of orchestrating a pump-and-dump scheme.

The $MELANIA coins were released for just a few cents each on 19 January, the day before Donald Trump was inaugurated as US president. In addition to $MELANIA, Donald Trump launched $TRUMP a few hours before his inauguration.

Within hours, the $MELANIA coin’s price soared to $13.73.

However, it then collapsed almost as quickly, and is now only worth about 10 cents – less than 1% of its peak price. $TRUMP traded at a peak of $45.47 and now goes for $5.79, according to Coin Market Cap.

The plaintiffs say the coin’s creators organized the operation knowing that the digital currency’s value would plummet.

Melania Trump herself is not named in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs said they did not believe she was “culpable”, but accused the crypto companies of using her and other familiar faces as “window dressing” for their crimes.

In newly filed court papers, investors accuse the executives of the Meteora cryptocurrency exchange platform, on which $MELANIA was initially traded, of setting up a scheme that allowed them to indirectly purchase large quantities of the virtual coin.

Their accomplices then quickly resold these digital currencies, pocketing substantial profits while causing the price to plummet, according to documents filed on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court.

The allegations concerning $MELANIA have been added to legal proceedings involving several other cryptocurrencies, which began in April. Meteora did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Trump family has pocketed more than $1bn in pre-tax profits from several cryptocurrency-related products and companies over the past 12 months, the Financial Times reported last week.