Private equity fundraising has taken a hit in recent quarters, a fact well known to private market participants. Global PE fundraising fell 30% year-over-year in 2024, dropping to $680 billion, the lowest total since 2015 according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. While deal activity and exits entered 2025 with renewed optimism (at least before the early macro-economic disruption), fundraising continued its trend of deceleration through the first half of the year. Just $220 billion was raised globally in the first six months of 2025, per PitchBook data, putting the industry on track to fall below last year’s still subdued total.
Yet behind the headlines lies a more nuanced truth. The private equity market is not uniformly distressed, instead, it has become deeply bifurcated: top-tier managers do continue to raise capital with relative ease, while many others are being left behind. It’s not just a slowdown. It’s a sorting mechanism.
Winners and Strugglers: A Divided Market
There’s no doubt that many private equity firms are struggling to raise capital. As just some select examples: Charterhouse Capital Partners, one of the UK’s oldest buyout houses, closed its eleventh fund at €1.4 billion, significantly below its €2.5 billion target, following a protracted process and key team departures.
Canadian firm Onex raised and initial $2.0 billion for its sixth flagship fund, far short of its $8 billion target, before suspending the raise given a lack of interest and pivoting to a bridge vehicle. Similarly, Trilantic, the subject of a recent Bloomberg article on lagging fundraising, raised approximately $500 million of its $3.0 billion target. Firms such as Crestview and Astorg have reportedly paused or delayed their fundraises due to apparent tepid LP demand for their products.
Fundraising challenges are not confined to the mid-market either. Carlyle has scaled back its ambitions across multiple geographies. Its Asia Partners VI fund, was forced to reduce fundraising for its Asia strategy twice, ultimately targeting only $3.5 billion of the original $8.5 billion target and extending fundraising through mid-2025, having started in early 2023. Its Europe Partners V fund too, is facing fundraising headwinds due to lagging performance and senior turnover in the deal team.
While they dominate the headlines, these struggles are only one side of the private equity coin. On the other hand, Ufenau Capital Partners reached its €2.1 billion hard cap for Ufenau Asset Light VIII in four months. Complex buyout GP Aurelius closed an oversubscribed Opportunities V at €830 million in June, following in the footsteps of its top-decile prior Fund IV. Across the pond in the US, Avesi Capital Partners (discussed in LP Gateway’s recent “Manager of the Month” series) has closed two oversubscribed raises recently, with Mill Point similarly raising $1.7 billion in less than five months.
The list continues, but what it does show, is that while fundraising is certainly depressed at a broad level, it is not a universal constant. When it comes to private equity GPs today, there are the haves and the have nots. As noted by private equity executives in a recent Times article, “everyone is taking longer to fundraise, but not everyone is struggling the same”.
Why the Bifurcation? LP Behaviour Is Evolving
This isn’t all that new however, top-quartile funds have always stood out from lesser performers in fund-raising. However, the gap in fundraising between the top and bottom quartiles has widened significantly in recent years.
A flurry of over-deployment in 2021 and 2022, followed by a sharp slowdown in exits and distributions, has driven LPs to reign in private equity exposures. However, in a further concentrated portfolio, alpha and liquidity matters all the more. LPs are being more selective when allocating their capital. An additional rise in rates means there’s no longer “easy money” from GPs and further threatens to separate the true performers from those merely riding the wave.
As noted by law firm Mourant, fundraising cycles have lengthened significantly, with the average time to close out a fundraise in Q1 2025 extending to around 18 months. This compared to an average of 13 months between 2020 and 2024.
That said, diving further into the data further suggests bifurcation. While the average time to close for a subsequent 1st quartile buyout fund has remained largely the same at ten months, the 4th quartile fundraising timeline has almost doubled from 19 months to 34 months in 2024. The same rings true for the ability to raise at scale, with top performers able to raise successively large vintages and weaker GPs struggling to hit funding targets
As neatly summarised by Mark Veldon, European co-head of consultancy AlixPartners, “those PE funds that have a track record of solid returns and have been able to return money to their investors comfortably, have weathered the storm. Those that have not generated returns have fared worse”.
Firms with weaker performance records, leadership instability, or less compelling strategies are finding it increasingly difficult to attract capital. In contrast, those closing in a matter of months are firms with strong track records, stable leadership and well-defined investment theses. In a world where LPs are prioritizing fewer GP relationships and a flight to quality, these merits are gold.
Conclusion: Fundraising Is a Test, Not a Given
The private equity industry is not exactly in a crisis, but it is undergoing a reshaping. Or, as one Goldman Sachs executive told The Times, perhaps more bluntly, the industry is undergoing a “culling process”.
Fundraising today is not about capital availability in the abstract; with the flow of capital less freely available and certainly more selective, it’s about earning investor trust in an era of elevated scrutiny and constrained liquidity.
Precedent shows that top-performing, transparent, and strategically positioned GPs will continue to find support amongst eager LPs. The rest must adapt or be left behind.
For LPs, the new era offers more control and accountability. For GPs, it’s a stark reminder that in private equity today, capital is no longer cheap—and access to it must be earned.
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Sources:
[1] https://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/news-insights/articles/2025/1/global-private-equity-fundraising-sinks-for-3rd-straight-year-87110906
[2]Pitchbook Global PE Market Q2 2025 First Looks
[3] https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/inside-charterhouse-missed-fund-targets-and-departures-at-one-of-europes-oldest-buyout-firms-6530925f
[4] https://www.withintelligence.com/insights/private-equity-giants-see-big-fundraising-misses/
[5] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/mergers-and-acquisitions/private-equitys-vast-middle-suffers-in-search-for-fresh-funds?context=search&index=0
[6] https://www.buyoutsinsider.com/trilantic-runs-what-could-be-a-precedent-setting-liquidity-process/
[7] https://www.privateequityinternational.com/side-letter-fundraises-on-ice/
[8] https://pe-insights.com/ufenau-capital-partners-closes-e2-1bn-fund-in-four-months-to-back-buy-and-build-strategy/
[9] https://www.asantecapital.com/media/asante-capital-congratulates-our-partner-aurelius-on-the-oversubscribed-closing-of-aurelius-opportunities-fund-v-at-e830-million-in-less-than-5-months/
[10] https://millpoint.com/mill-point-capital-raises-1-7-billion-in-oversubscribed-fund-iii/
[11] https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/companies/article/private-equitys-party-is-over-as-the-strong-battle-the-weak-rmbxvffvl
[12] https://www.bain.com/insights/outlook-is-a-recovery-starting-to-take-shape-global-private-equity-report-2025/
[13] https://www.mourant.com/news-and-views/news-2025/private-capital–a-mid-year-stocktake.aspx
