Quiet market for final closes in Q1, as backlog of funds on the road grows

Greg Gille
09 April 2021

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The number of final closes for European private equity funds was down by 22% year-on-year in Q1 2021, according to Unquote Data, while new launches and registrations also slowed down.

Unquote recorded 37 final closes of PE funds managed by European GPs (excluding credit and infrastructure funds) in the first quarter of 2021, gathering aggregate commitments of €29.9bn.

This is among the quietest quarters for final closes in recent years, second only to Q2 2020's 30 closes. By comparison, Unquote recorded 45 final closes in Q4 last year, 48 closes in Q1 2020 and 58 closes in Q1 2019.

The aggregate commitments of Q1's closes, at €29.9bn, are more in line with recent quarterly averages, bearing in mind such figures are regularly skewed by the timing of mega-fund closes. Indeed, more than half of Q1's total is attributable to just two final closes: Apax X closed on $11bn in January and Coller International Partners VIII held a final close on $9bn that same month.

Largest European final closes (Q1 2021)

Name of Fund	Fund Manager	Country	Fund Type	Amount raised (€m)
Apax X	Apax Partners	UK	Buyout	9,584
Coller International Partners VIII	Coller Capital	UK	Secondaries	7,368
Bregal Unternehmerkapital III	Bregal Unternehmerkapital	Germany	Buyout	1,875
T2 Energy Transition Fund	Tikehau Capital	France	Buyout	1,100
PAI Middle Market Buyout Fund	PAI Partners	France	Buyout	920
Triton Smaller Mid-Cap Fund II	Triton Partners	Germany	Buyout	815
Norvestor VIII	Norvestor Equity	Norway	Buyout	800
Capital Dynamics Global Secondaries V	Capital Dynamics	Switzerland	Secondaries	638
KLAR Partners I	Klar Partners	UK	Buyout	600
Agilitas 2020 Private Equity Fund	Agilitas Partners	UK	Buyout	565

Source: Unquote Data

With 19 events recorded in Q1 2021, first closes were also down on both the previous quarter (24 closes) and Q1 2020 (37 closes). Meanwhile, as reported, fewer funds were launched in the first quarter than in any quarter in 2020: Unquote recorded eight fund launches between January and March this year, to which can be added 18 vehicles filing for registration in anticipation of a formal launch.

Highlights of fund launches in Q1 this year have included Apax Digital Fund II, which came to market with a target of $1.5bn and is expected to close in Q2; and Afinum 9, which is targeting €450-500m and expects to hold a first close by mid-year.

That said, the European fundraising pipeline remains crowded, with no fewer than 205 vehicles launched since 2019 and still on the road.

In addition, a number of processes were delayed by the pandemic, with some GPs opting to wait it out for a few months before coming back to market with their next vehicle. It is therefore likely that the tempo of new launches and pre-marketing efforts will ramp up as the year progresses, as highlighted in our most recent Fundraising Pipeline round-ups.