PE giants see big fundraising misses, but is sentiment improving?

Investment giants including Blackstone, Apollo, and Carlyle have seen big misses on their flagship fundraising targets this year, but executives are predicting a rebound for the next cycle.

Many of the biggest firms were forced to revise down targets in 2023 and extend fundraising periods for their flagship buyout funds – a trend that has continued into 2024 for some GPs.

The Carlyle Group, for example, had raised just $1.9bn for its latest Asia buyout fund as of August – less than a third of its $6bn fundraising target. Carlyle had initially hoped to raise $8.5bn for the fund when it launched over two years ago.

While this was not universally the case – CVC Capital Partners managed to raise the largest ever buyout fund in 2023, pulling in €26bn in just six months – a summary of blue-chip GPs’ fundraising progress against their initial targets made for grim reading.

In the last round of flagship fundraising by major listed managers, only EQT ended up hitting its initial target, wrapping up EQT X at its €22bn ($24bn) hard cap earlier this year – although that came after keeping the fund open for around six months longer than planned.

Blackstone, which in Q1 2023 initially reaffirmed its aim of raising “a vehicle of substantially similar size as the prior fund” was ultimately forced to revise its target down from $25bn to the “low-$20bn range,” a figure it only recently hit.

As of its most recent earnings call earlier this month, the firm has pulled in $20.7bn for Blackstone Capital Partners IX, with a final close expected in the coming months.