Research & Data

Blackstone, Apollo are most sought-after US large LBO managers

The firms top Setter Capital’s list of the 35 most sought-after US large LBO funds. Onex Partners and Platinum Equity Capital fell off the list since last year’s rankings.

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Blackstone, Apollo and Bain Capital topped the rankings of the 35 most sought-after US large buyout managers on the secondaries market in the second quarter, according to a ranking released on Wednesday by Toronto-based advisory firm Setter Capital.

AEA Investors and Francisco Partners are new to the rankings of most sought-after buyout managers whose most recent funds are greater than $2 billion, while Onex Partners and Platinum Equity Capital have dropped out of this year’s rankings last year.

The funds of the most sought-after managers price on average 8 percent better than funds of unrated managers.

There were 23 fund families rated excellent and 12 rated very good in the rankings this year.

Here are the 10 most sought-after US large buyout fund families:

  • Blackstone Capital Partners
  • Apollo Investment Fund
  • Bain Capital
  • Advent International Global Private Equity
  • TPG
  • Hellman & Friedman
  • Sun Capital
  • Warburg Pincus Private Equity
  • Carlyle Partners
  • New Mountain Capital

Setter Capital based its rankings on its Setter Liquidity Ratings, which rates fund families as excellent, very good, good and unrated, depending on how sought after and saleable they are on the secondary market. This is based on shortlists of more than 1300 buyers that Setter covers, which are also often posted on its SecondaryLink platform, while also incorporating any saleability factors such as transfer restrictions for further accuracy.

The full list can be found here.