Acanthus: Private equity fundraising remained tough in 2012

Acanthus' European Mid-Market Fundraising Review shows that €13.2bn was raised for 48 European private equity funds in 2012, €1.5bn down from the year prior.

Fundraising certainly recovered from the immediate post-crisis years of 2009 and 2010, when private equity players only raised €9.4bn and €9.9bn respectively. Yet, the decrease indicates a slow market that struggles with structural issues including new regulation, which is curbing commitments.

For the first time, Central and Eastern Europe ranked first with an overall €3.7bn raised. Turkey and Russia are two particularly active markets in the region, which are still partly overlooked by investors looking for potential targets. In 2011, only €700m was raised in the region. 

Europe's traditional private equity leader, the UK, came in second with €2.7bn raised, followed by France with €2.2bn for nine funds each.

The data also shows that almost half of the capital was raised by top-tier GPs (47%), with lower-tier players almost being squeezed out of the market. During the eight years prior to 2012, the market was dominated (61%) by intermediate-tier GPs.

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