Top 10 Largest Private Equity Firms
In this post, let's examine some of the largest equity companies in the world, ranked by market capitalization. Go directly to other related articles on ... read more...Toplist if you want to see more of the largest equity companies in other regions ranked by market capitalization.
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New York City-based Blackstone, Inc. is a firm that manages alternative investments. One of the biggest investors in leveraged buyouts over the past three decades has been Blackstone's private equity division, while its real estate division has actively acquired commercial real estate. In addition,
Blackstone engages in business in the areas of growth equity, secondary markets, infrastructure, hedge funds, and insurance. Approximately US$951 billion worth of the company's assets were being managed as of Q3 2022, making it the biggest alternative investment firm worldwide.
According to a ranking by Private Equity International, Blackstone was the largest private equity firm in the world as of 2019. The company makes investments through mergers of industries, minority interests, corporate alliances, and sporadic start-up investments. The company's primary concentration is on amiable investments in high-capitalization businesses.
Blackstone has generally gotten its funding from private equity funds, committed capital pools from pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, funds of funds, high-net-worth individuals, sovereign wealth funds, and other institutional investors. Blackstone spent almost $20 billion in 109 private equity deals between 1987 and the time of its IPO in 2007.
Founders: Peter G. Peterson, Stephen A. Schwarzman
Headquarters: 345 Park Avenue, New York City, U.S.
Website: https://blackstone.com/ -
KKR & Co., Inc. ranks first on the list of the best private equity firms based on revenue in the world. KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., manages a variety of alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strategic partners, hedge funds.
By December 31, 2021, the company will have completed more than 650 private equity investments in portfolio firms with a total enterprise value of over $675 billion. Assets under management (AUM) and fee-paying assets under management (FPAUM) stood at $471 billion and $357 billion, respectively, as of December 31, 2021.
The company was established in 1976 by Jerome Kohlberg Jr., Henry Kravis, and George R. Roberts, three cousins who had previously collaborated at Bear Stearns, where they had conducted some of the first leveraged buyout transactions.
Since its inception, KKR has completed a number of deals, including the 1989 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco, which at the time was the largest buyout ever, and the 2007 buyout of TXU, which is currently the largest buyout to date.
Founders: Jerome Kohlberg Jr., Henry Kravis, George R. Roberts
Headquarters: 30 Hudson Yards, New York City, U.S.
Website: https://www.kkr.com/ -
With $376 billion in assets under management, The Carlyle Group is a global private equity, alternative asset management, and financial services company based in the United States. Real estate, private credit, and private equity are its areas of expertise.
One of the biggest mega-funds in the entire globe According to the PEI 300 index, Carlyle was the largest private equity firm in the world in 2015 by capital raised over the previous five years, but by 2020 it had dropped to the second position.
William E. Conway Jr., Stephen L. Norris, David Rubenstein, Daniel A. D'Aniello, and Greg Rosenbaum founded the business in 1987 in Washington, D.C. As of December 2021, the company employed roughly 1,850 people in 26 offices across six continents.
The company went public in 2012, and as of September 23, its stock had produced a cumulative return of 120% over the previous ten years. Additionally, the Carlyle Group raised $19 billion in the first half of 2022, bringing its total fundraising for the preceding five years to $48.4 billion.
Founders: Loka V AKA Walter White, EWB Blayok AKA Jessie Pinkman, SJ Row AKA Gus Frings, Shaunak Surlu, Aditya Girish AKA MLK
Headquarters: Washington, D.C., U.S.
Website: https://carlyle.com/ -
TPG Inc., formerly Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is a US investment firm with its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. Focused on growth capital and leveraged buyouts, the private equity business.
Growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments are all managed by TPG. The company makes investments across various sectors, such as consumer and retail, media and telecommunications, industrials, technology, travel, leisure, and health care.
Early in the new millennium, TPG acquired complete control of the Newbridge joint venture and changed the company's name to TPG Newbridge. The Asian funds of TPG Newbridge were renamed the TPG Asia Funds at the beginning of 2007, when the company's name changed from Texas Pacific Group to TPG Capital.
In 2008, TPG continued to operate in Asia. To accomplish an unwanted takeover, TPG and Global Infrastructure Partners offered to purchase Asciano Limited for AUD 2.9 billion on August 4. On October 31, 2008, TPG successfully paid Bakrie & Brothers, Indonesia, $1.3 billion to acquire a 35% stake in P.T. Bumi Resources.
Founders: David Bonderman, James Coulter, William S. Price III
Headquarters: Fort Worth, Texas, U.SWebsite: https://tpg.com/
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With operations in the United States, Europe, Brazil, China, Southeast Asia, and India, Warburg Pincus LLC is a multinational private equity business with its headquarters in New York. Since 1966, Warburg has been a private equity investor.
Currently managing assets worth over $80 billion, the company makes investments across a number of industries, including retail, industrial manufacturing, energy, financial services, health care, technology, media, and real estate. An investor in growth is Warburg Pincus. Investing more than $100 billion in more than 1,000 firms across 40 countries, Warburg Pincus has raised 21 private equity funds.
Venture capital investing has a history with Warburg Pincus. The company offers a global entrepreneur-in-residence program to aid in the launch of new enterprises, and it is a founding member of the venture capital associations in China and the United States.
According to Reuters, Warburg Pincus raised $4 billion for its first energy-focused private equity fund in October 2014. In June 2019, Warburg Pincus closed its Warburg Pincus China-Southeast Asia II, L.P. fund at $4.25 billion after closing its Warburg Pincus Global Growth, L.P. fund at $14.8 billion in late 2018.
Founders: Eric Warburg, Lionel Pincus
Headquarters: 450 Lexington Avenue, New York City, U.SWebsite: https://warburgpincus.com/
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French private equity and investment advisory business CVC Capital Partners has offices in Luxembourg and manages assets of roughly US$133 billion and €157 billion across American, European, and Asian private equity, secondary, and credit funds.
By the end of the year 2021, CVC-managed or advised funds would have been invested in more than 100 businesses throughout the globe that employed over 450,000 people in various nations. CVC was established in 1981, and as of March 31, 2022, it employed over 650 people across its network of 25 offices in the Americas, Asia, and EMEA.Founded in 1994, the EQT AB Group is a multinational investment company.
In Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific, its funds invest in growth equity, venture capital, real estate, infrastructure, and private equity. EQT will have €90 billion (US$100 billion) in assets under management as of 2022. According to the amount of money raised, it is the third-largest private equity firm globally.
EQT made news earlier this year when it revealed plans to pay $7.5 billion to acquire the Hong Kong-based private equity firm Baring Private Equity Asia. By 2030, according to EQT, 85% of new members of the global middle class and 42% of global GDP growth will originate from Asia.
At the end of the second quarter, EQT reported approximately $76 billion in AUM; however, this amount is anticipated to rise to almost $100 billion following the BPEA purchase, which is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter. Over the last five years, EQT has raised $57.3 billion in capital.
Founders: Conni Jonsson
Headquarters: Regeringsgatan 25, Stockholm, Sweden
Website: https://eqtgroup.com/ -
The UK-based private equity company Apax Partners LLP has its main office in London. Six more offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich, and Shanghai also serve as the company's operational hubs. Since 1981, the company has raised over $51 billion (USD), encompassing all of its numerous predecessors as of December 2017. Apax Partners, the fifteenth-largest private equity firm globally, is one of the oldest and biggest firms of its kind to operate on an international scale.
Apax only invests in a select group of industries, such as telecommunications, technology, retail and consumer goods, healthcare, and financial and business services. aims for a target enterprise value of $1,000 million to $5 billion.
Apax obtains funding for its investment funds from institutional investors such as corporate and public pension plans, foundations, and endowments at universities and colleges. Alan Patricof, one of the company's co-founders, invested in Apple Computer and America Online (AOL) at the beginning.
Founders: Ronald Cohen
Headquarters: London, EnglandWebsite: https://www.apax.com/
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French private equity and investment advisory business CVC Capital Partners has offices in Luxembourg and manages assets of roughly US$133 billion and €157 billion across American, European, and Asian private equity, secondary, and credit funds. CVC Capital Partners ranks 4th on the list of the best private equity firms based on revenue.
By the end of the year 2021, CVC-managed or advised funds were invested in more than 100 businesses throughout the globe that employed over 450,000 people in various nations. CVC was established in 1981, and as of March 31, 2022, it employed over 650 people across its network of 25 offices in the Americas, Asia, and EMEA.
By the beginning of the 1990s, managing directors Steven Koltes, Hardy McLain, Donald Mackenzie, Iain Parham, and Rolly Van Rappard were running Citicorp Venture Capital in Europe alongside Michael Smith, who had joined the company in 1982.
To create an independent private equity company, CVC Capital Partners, Smith, and the senior investment professionals of Citicorp Venture Capital arranged a spinout from Citibank in 1993. One of the biggest and most well-known private equity firms in Europe by the year 2000 was CVC.
Just ahead of funds raised by other top companies, Apax Partners and BC Partners, CVC completed fundraising for its third investment fund in 2001, making it the largest private equity fund ever raised in Europe. At the same time, CVC began its expansion into Asia with a $750 million fund that made only investments in Asian businesses.
Founders: Steve Koltes, Donald Mackenzie, Rolly van Rappard
Headquarters: Luxembourg, French
Website: https://www.cvc.com/
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Thoma Bravo LLC ranks 5th on the list of the best private equity firms based on revenue. American growth capital and private equity company Thoma Bravo, LP, has locations in Miami, Chicago, and San Francisco. It manages more than $114 billion in assets and is renowned for being particularly active in the acquisition of software firms.
It is the company that replaced the one started in 1980 by Stanley Golder and Carl Thoma, who also founded Golder Thoma & Co. Seth Boro, Orlando Bravo, Scott Crabill, Lee Mitchell, Holden Spaht, and Carl Thoma serve as the firm's managing partners.
It was the world's fastest-growing major buyout firm in 2021. After examining 898 funds raised between 2005 and 2014, Thoma Bravo was named the best-performing buyout investor by the French business school HEC Paris in partnership with Dow Jones in February 2019. The company uses an investment strategy known as "consolidation" or "buy and build" and focuses on the application, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and technology-enabled business service sectors.
Founders: Carl Thoma, Orlando Bravo
Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://thomabravo.com/
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Hellman & Friedman was established in 1984 by Warren Hellman and Tully Friedman. While working for Lehman Brothers and Salomon Brothers, respectively, Warren and Tully met and decided to collaborate on the idea of starting an investing and advisory firm west of the Mississippi.
To start a successful middle-market private equity firm, FFL, Tully left in 1997. The company we are now is a direct result of Warren's leadership, who stayed with the business until his passing in 2011.
The company specializes in leveraged buyouts and growth capital investments. Hellman & Friedman has raised more than $70 billion in capital and invested in more than 100 businesses over its history. 29 businesses, including Splunk Inc. (SPLK), SimpliSafe, and Vantage, are currently part of its portfolio.
The greatest mover in the top 10 of the PEI 300 list for 2022 is Hellman & Friedman, which rose 28 spots from position 37 in 2021 to position nine in 2022. Over the last five years, the company has raised $40.9 billion in total.
Founders: Warren Hellman, Tully Friedman
Headquarters: Salesforce Tower, San Francisco, California, United States
Website: http://www.hf.com/