The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that private equity firms will face additional pressure to sell assets and return capital to investors after two years of sluggish dealmaking, according to a senior executive at Evercore. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says that the global value of mergers and acquisitions and related transactions fell below $3-trillion (U.S.) last year for the first time since 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Private equity funds were less active as a sharp rise in interest rates made financing deals more expensive and raised the odds of a recession. Many private equity owners have chosen to hold assets for longer, rather than exit at what they perceive as a depressed price, says Evercore's Andrew MacNiven. The silver lining is that companies in many industries are well positioned to buy and credit markets have suddenly improved, with bond yields falling during the late 2023 bond rally. One of the biggest deals last year was Canada Pension Plan Investment Board helping to take private software company Qualtrics International. Another was Brookfield Business Partners helping close the transfer of nuclear-services player Westinghouse Electric to buyers including Cameco.