Chart of the week: Percentage of funds above, on, or below target

Click here for a larger version

In Q1 2015, 62 percent of all private equity funds globally across sectors had raised the amount of capital targeted by a fund at the time of its final close. In comparison, funds that surpassed their target size or closed below target represented a collectively smaller proportion of funds to close overall. In Q1 2014, a lower percentage of funds were on target at 48 percent.

The percentage of funds that were above target in Q1 2015 decreased from 37 percent in the first quarter of the previous year to 27 percent. In Q1 2014, 175 private equity funds held a final close with 64 of these above target, whilst 150 funds closed in the first quarter of 2015 with 41 of these raising more capital than was initially targeted.

The two funds which had the greatest positive difference between their target size and their size at final close in Q1 2015 were American Securities Partners VII, managed by American Securities, and Carlyle International Energy Partners, managed by The Carlyle Group. Both are buyout funds and raised $1 billion more than their targets, gathering $5 billion and $2.5 billion respectively. Pinebridge Secondary Partners III, managed by PineBridge Investments, was furthest from its target in this quarter. It raised $307.98 million but had a target size of $500 million.