Most active independent sponsors

• A completed deal is a dated acquisition in the DFX independent sponsor deal record whose announcement names a verified independent sponsor as the buyer.
• The window is the 24 months to 7 October 2026.
• Only sponsors that pass the DFX verified sponsor test are ranked.
• Each sponsor is counted once per deal.
• Ranked by the number of distinct counted events in the window. A tie is broken by the date of the firm's most recent counted event, then alphabetically.

Included

• Every sponsor with at least one counted completed deal in the window.

Left out

• Candidate sponsors, sponsor groups not yet verified, and committed-fund buyers.
• Deals with no date, or dated outside the window.

• The leader has 13 completed deals in the window.
• 63 sponsors recorded more than one.
• The events come from 125 distinct publishing sites.

• How this ranking is calculated
• Most active private equity buyers in 2026
• Most active healthcare private equity buyers
• Most active RIA acquirers
• Most active institutional allocators

• Deal announcements naming the buyer, with the company bought linked to its record
• SEC Form D filings for the deal vehicles

Every source DFX reads is listed with its rights determination on the sources page.

• All rankings
• Independent sponsors by state
• The deal tape