Private equity giant EQT has reaped more than $10 billion for its latest flagship fund dedicated to investments in Asia, drawing nearer to the first close expected next week.
BPEA Private Equity Fund IX was launched in August 2024 with a target of $12.5 billion and hard cap of $14.5 billion. US pension manager Teacher Retirement System of Texas committed to invest $150 million last month, while The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund approved $100 million for the fund last year.
The fund entered its investment period last month, Gustav Segerberg, EQT’s head of business development, said during EQT’s first-quarter announcement on Wednesday. “BPEA IX is expected to reach its $12.5-billion target fund size during the summer, and the fundraising is expected to be materially concluded this year,” he said.
The fund is set to be among the largest corporate private equity funds in the Asia-Pacific region, along with those of KKR and Blackstone. Blackstone is also gearing up for the third vintage of its Asia private equity fund this year, expecting the target to be around the same size as the precursor instalment that closed at $11 billion in 2022.
EQT’s latest milestone comes at the time when the region is experiencing the toughest fundraising climates in a decade. The value of Asia Pacific-focused funds raised in 2024 slumped to a 10-year low of $74 billion, per data by Bain. The average time required to close a fund increased to 24 months, Bain said.
Looming challenges
EQT’s fundraising momentum could, however, hit a brake following market turmoil caused by the Trump tariff blitz in the past weeks.
“With lower public market valuation, some clients, especially those with mature private market programmes, are often forced to limit their private market investments to align with target allocation levels,” Segerberg said.
“If deal activity slows down materially, it means less liquidity back to the client, which in turn reduces clients’ ability to make new commitments for these reasons,” he said, adding that the group expects at least another two years before global fundraising volumes for private markets can bounce back to their record levels seen in 2021.
Meanwhile, EQT’s outgoing CEO Christian Sinding expects the group’s portfolio to have minimal direct exposure following the tariff announcements. “Our private capital portfolio is largely invested in sectors such as healthcare, software and services, where we have no or little exposure to manufacturing and trading of physical goods in infrastructure,” he said.
Service providers account for the majority of EQT’s Asia underlying portfolio of over 10 billion euros followed by technology service companies and technology businesses, according to its presentation.
Asia updates
In the first quarter of 2025, EQT executed the so-called “private IPO” for its star portfolio Nord Anglia, raising around $7.5 billion outside of the BPEA Private Equity Fund VIII, Sinding said.
“The deal structure provides investors with liquidity today while significantly broadening the shareholder base of over 70 investors, including some with time horizons above and beyond the private equity holding period,” he said, adding that future liquidity events within the private markets are also a possibility.
EQR’s sixth Asia flagship fund, which originally held shares in Nord Anglia generated 3.5x MOIC, following the completion of the $14.5-billion transaction that was announced last year with participation from Neuberger Berman Private Markets and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
