PEI 300: The world’s largest private equity firms

After several challenging years, global capital raising has hit a plateau. Can the industry recover from a fundraising flatline? How will the top private equity firms respond?

Even as challenging market conditions continue to dampen fundraising levels, the top private equity firms haven’t slowed their pace. In the 2024 edition of the PEI 300 – our annual ranking measuring the five-year fundraising totals of the world’s biggest private equity firms – we see higher barriers to entry and a returning winner taking the crown.

A returning winner takes the PEI 300 crown this year, dethroning KKR after its first win in 2022. Blackstone raised a whopping $125.6 billion over the past five years, marking the sixth time it has come out on top over the past decade. Its total is a 52 percent increase on last year, when it came in $44 billion below KKR’s all-time PEI 300 record of $126.5 billion.

The top 300 private equity firms raised $3.13 trillion between them, marking a jump of $530 billion from last year. It’s clear, then, that the fundraising lull ongoing in the private markets hasn’t made a dent in firms’ long-term tallies just yet. However, if such conditions continue, future iterations of the list may look very different.

While spirits remain high across the list as a whole, firms in the Asia-Pacific region are facing some difficulties. As appetites for the region’s largest PE market begin to lessen, mainland China and Hong Kong-headquartered firms suffered from a reduced presence on the PEI 300: more than two-thirds of firms in these markets faced a lower ranking this year. This compares with Europe, which (in spite of a war and a rapidly tightening monetary policy) amassed $592 billion over the past five years – an all-time high for the region. Depending on how the fundraising winds shift over the coming months, APAC may have to rely on a handful of well-performing firms in order to maintain its fundraising efforts.

At a time when fundraising congestion has left many PE firms fighting over a finite pool of LP capital, standing out from the crowd is no mean feat. It’s all the more impressive, then, that this year’s leading firm has taken the PEI 300 top spot for the first time, but has done so by an enormous margin.

After eight years in the top three, KKR has dethroned Blackstone, which had sat comfortably in pole position since 2019 and, in total, for five of the past 10 years. This year, however, KKR’s record-breaking sum of $126.5 billion exceeded Blackstone’s $82.46 billion tally by more than 53 percent. It also accounted for more than 20 percent of the fundraising total for the entire top 10, driven to some extent by the $19 billion final close of its largest-ever fund – KKR North America Fund XIII – in April.

To qualify for the 2022 ranking, firms needed to raise a minimum of $1.85 billion over the past five years, compared with $1.55 billion last year and $868 million a decade ago. This year’s cadre raised $2.6 trillion between them, smashing last year’s $2.25 trillion total capital record.

Aside from the new leader, there was no shortage of fresh faces on the 2022 ranking, with 26 new entrants to the list. Six of these were China-headquartered. Overall, 48 managers in the Asia-Pacific region made it into this year’s ranking, compared with 41 in 2021. With APAC private equity funds targeting a colossal $151.6 billion between them as of April, versus $99.5 billion in Europe, according to PEI data, next year’s ranking may well shift even further east.

Pandemic? What pandemic? The latest PEI 300 shows the global health crisis did little to slow private equity fundraising with another record ranking. The 300 firms that comprise our annual ranking of the biggest fundraisers over a five-year period collected $2.25 trillion between them – a 13 percent rise on the previous year’s list.

Blackstone retains the top spot, with a five-year fundraising total of $93.2 billion – $13 billion more than KKR which was hot on its heels.

To get into the PEI 300 this year you needed to have raised at least $1.55 billion over the past five years. To break into the coveted top 10, you needed to have amassed at least $37.49 billion – a 17 percent jump on what was needed the prior year.

There was no shortage of new faces in this year’s list, with 24 firms making an entrance, including China Merchants Capital, which broke in at 27th and was the highest-ranked newcomer – a sign to incumbents that new entrants are gaining ground.

– Updated on 2 September 2021: Since compiling this year’s PEI 300, PEI has learned that Levine Leichtman Capital Partners raised capital totalling $4.49 billion during the relevant period and should have been included in the list.

The 2019 ranking is record-breaking. Between them, the 300 firms that make up our ranking have a five-year fundraising total of more than $1.7 trillion, with the top 10 accounting for $403 billion.

Blackstone reclaimed its position at the top of the PEI 300, with a five-year fundraising total of $82.9 billion, nearly $20 billion higher than runner-up The Carlyle Group.

As Blackstone’s Joe Baratta tells us, when you are at the top, the way to avoid deal competition is to go big.

Firms now need at least $1.2 billion to get into our ranking – versus $908 million in 2015. To enter the top 100, you must have raised at least $4.8 billion, and an additional $24 billion to join the top 10.

The 2018 ranking is record-breaking. Between them, the 300 top private equity firms that make up our ranking have a five-year fundraising total of $1.5 trillion, with the top 10 alone accounting for almost $400 billion. This is higher than ever before.

Limited partner appetite for the asset class doesn’t seem to be abating. As David Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group told us, when you see enormous amounts of money going into the asset class, you have to conclude investors believe it represents a good opportunity.

And capital is continuing to concentrate on the upper echelons. The top 10 accounted for over 26.5 percent of the total capital raised, up from 23.8 percent last year and 22.9 percent in 2016.

Click below to find out who are the top 10, top 50 and top 300 private equity firms in the world.