Firms with secondaries operations featured prominently in the PEI 300, sister publication Private Equity International‘s annual list of the biggest primary fundraisers in private equity over the last five years.
The highest ranking of these firms is Blackstone, which slipped from the top spot to second place in this year’s list, having raised $52.3 billion through its direct investing businesses over the past five years.
The figure does not include the fundraises by secondaries arm Strategic Partners, which raised $7.5 billion for its 2015-vintage Fund VII and $4.4 billion for its 2013-vintage vehicle. In April the unit also raised $1.75 billion for infrastructure secondaries, the largest fund raised for the strategy.
Also making the top 10 is Neuberger Berman, which has raised $27.6 billion of capital over the five years to 1 April 2018, placing it eighth in the ranking.
On the secondaries side the group raised a collective $4.5 billion for its NB Secondary Opportunity Fund III and NB Secondary Opportunity Fund IV, which closed in October 2013 and January 2017, respectively.
The firm is in market with its debut real estate secondaries fund, NB Real Estate Secondary Opportunities Fund, with former Deutsche Bank executive Scott Koenig at the helm.
Ardian, a giant of the secondaries world, took 25th place in the ranking. The Paris-headquartered firm has raised $12.5 billion for its buyout and fund of funds vehicles over the past five years, according to PEI data.
Over that period the firm has also raised two flagship secondaries funds: the 2013-vintage AXA Secondary Fund VI, which raised $9 billion, and ASF VII, which raised $14 billion. It was raising its sixth early secondaries fund as of September and is expected to return with a secondaries fund in 2018, as Secondaries Investor revealed.
The past five years have also seen it raise an infrastructure secondaries fund, ASF VII infrastructure, which had collected $1.7 billion as of May 2017.
Others to feature on the list include Partners Group, AlpInvest Partners, HarbourVest Partners, Hamilton Lane and Pantheon.
The 2018 PEI 300 ranking is based on the amount of private equity direct investment capital raised by firms between 1 January 2013 until 1 April 2018.
Funds of funds, secondaries, real estate, infrastructure, hedge funds, debt, mezzanine and PIPEs are not included.
The full list can be accessed here.
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