Fundraising: Winners and losers

Data from unquote" suggests talk of the most difficult fundraising market ever may be overblown, with a healthy number of funds closing swiftly and successfully. All four final closes featured in this month's issue hit their targets or hard-caps, suggesting there is indeed appetite for European private equity.

Delving more into the dataside of things, searching unquote" data reveals the number of fund closings last year (interim and final) is around the 2003 level - though the value of 2012 funds is higher. Of course, fundraising is lumpy and so it is impossible to draw any meaningful conclusions from a chart. Indeed, the 2007/2008 peak suggests this year and next should see another peak as investment periods from the boom-time end. However, myriad extensions granted to those vehicles (Bridgepoint being a recent example) suggest we may have to wait another year (or two) for this to materialise.

The real change is who is getting the money. We are witnessing a "categorisation" of funds, with the most sought-after vehicles not only oversubscribed but in record time. Well-known brands Advent, HgCapital and Triton achieved this; but so too have some lesser-known firms. The next category of GPs are those that reach their target, but take some time to do so - such as Cinven. Then there is a group that struggles to raise, for some time, and ends way off target (I won't mention names). Finally, there are those that don't raise at all and seek out alternatives (names definitely needn't be mentioned here).

Press tends to focus on the latter two categories, but that masks the successes found in the first two groups. It also hides the fact that much of the LP rhetoric about unfair fees is just talk - since many of the top GPs remain in a strong bargaining position and so command favourable terms.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the fundraising market nowadays is that brands seem to count for less - for example, the third and fourth categories contain a number of erstwhile ‘big names' in European private equity, while the first and second categories contain a number of new (or newly independent) teams - NorthEdge, Synova and Equistone to name a few.

Such success indicates LPs are looking less at long-term track record and more at recent performance. It also suggests the lower mid-market is where LPs are placing their bets.

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• Topics
• Fundraising
• Top story
• Bridgepoint
• Advent International
• HgCapital
• Triton Partners
• Cinven
• Synova Capital
• Equistone Partners Europe