Enormous cash 昀椀repower sitting on the sidelines It’s fair to assume that PE will continue to be an important driver of M&A activity in the European tech eco- system, especially when the interest rate environment eases debt 昀椀nancing considerations. Globally, the dry powder held by PE 昀椀rms is at record levels, sitting at $2.3T as of 30 September 2023. This has effectively tripled in scale over the past decade. Separately, corporate buyers are also sitting on huge cash balances that could be used to fuel M&A activity. The 昀椀ve largest US public technology companies cumulatively hold balance sheet cash levels of nearly $400B. By comparison, the 昀椀ve largest European public technology companies have an aggregate cash balance of just under $50B. Global Private Equity dry powder and cash balances of selected tech companies United States Top cash balance of US and European tech companies Europe 125 100 ) B $ ( 75 e c n a l a b h 50 s a C 25 0 P s L P s a le n ft X ic M A u t p o o N n S S s e p z s b o o M a o a r A r A m r h t P A ic lp ec M A el o cr i TM S Global Private Equity dry powder 3 2 ) T $ ( r e d w o p y r D 1 Notes: S&P Capital IQ 0 Platform, as of date 30 September 2023, for Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 illustrative purposes only. Ranking is based on cash and short term investments. Sources: | 232