What Fundraising Woes? PE Giants Are Raking in Cash.
November 15, 2022 | Hannah Zhang | Institutional Investor
Private equity fundraising on average may be down this year, but the biggest firms, including Blackstone, Apollo, and KKR, are bringing in far more money than last year.
Blackstone, for example, managed $941 billion in assets as of June 30, up from $684 billion a year ago, according to the latest private equity report from Ernst & Young. Much of that increase can be attributed to capital inflows in the second quarter this year, when fundraising activities in the overall PE market were flat. The second quarter was one of the best in Blackstone’s fundraising history, the report added. Carlyle’s assets also grew from $276 billion in the second quarter of 2021 to $376 billion in the same period this year. Ares saw its assets grow from $248 billion in the second quarter last year to $334 billion in the second quarter of 2022. KKR, TPG, and Apollo have all seen positive asset inflows into their funds during the same period.
“There’s a [measurable] disconnect between what some of the largest firms in the market are experiencing and what’s happening in the market overall,” Pete Witte, EY Global Private Equity Lead Analyst, wrote in the report. “When many of the large public managers reported Q2 earnings, they saw [assets] increase despite a market environment [in which] many were taking write-downs on their portfolios — the inflows they were seeing were sufficient to outpace the mark-to-market declines.”
