Private equity investments have finally slowed, but it's not necessarily permanent.

Despite high profile, multibillion dollar plays like Cerberus Capital Management buying Safeway or BC Partners taking over PetSmart, there were just 668 PE fund investments made in the last quarter in North America, the lowest total since the third quarter of 2011, according to data tracker PitchBook. Those deals totaled $122.2 billion, the lowest amount since the second quarter of 2013.

The story was similar for all PE deals. Global investments hit $207.8 billion in the first quarter, the lowest total since the first quarter of 2013. The number of investments, 1,124, was also the lowest monthly tally since the third quarter of 2010, according to PitchBook.