Sweden's EQT raises $15.6 billion for largest Asian private equity fund
A view shows EQT AB's logo at the company's office in Tokyo, Japan May 13, 2025. REUTERS/Miho Uranaka
April 21 : Sweden-based global private equity firm EQT AB said on Tuesday it had completed fundraising for its new Asia-focused buyout fund after securing capital of $15.6 billion, making it the region's largest private equity fund.
The fundraising reflects strong investor interest in Asia despite the global volatility fuelled by the Iran crisis.
The fund, which will focus on control deals in sectors including technology, healthcare, and services, was oversubscribed with strong participation from existing investors and more than 75 new investors, EQT said.
Commitments to the BPEA Private Equity Fund IX were broadly balanced across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, with pension funds and sovereign wealth funds among the largest contributors, EQT said. About $14.9 billion of the fund will generate fees.
"The opportunity in Asia today has shifted from chasing growth to leading profound structural transformation," said Hari Gopalakrishnan and Nicholas Macksey, deputy co-heads, Private Capital Asia at EQT.
"As the region evolves - redefining global supply chains and scaling digital champions - it has created a more complex investment landscape."
INDUSTRY CONSOLIDATION
Large-cap global investment firms have attracted the lion's share of private capital allocations to the Asia region in the last two years.
U.S.-based Blackstone Inc is expected to close its third pan-Asia buyout fund at the ceiling limit of $12.88 billion, said sources familiar with the fundraising. Blackstone declined to comment. The sources could not be named as the information was confidential.
Bain Capital has raised about $10.5 billion in its sixth pan-Asia buyout fund while KKR & Co, which held the previous record in a $15 billion pan-Asia fund raised in 2021, is in market to raise $15 billion for its next such vehicle, Reuters has reported.
Capital distribution to investors, industry consolidation and diversification contributed to EQT's fundraising, said Jean Salata, the firm's Asia chair and regional head of private equity.
The firm returned a record $14 billion of capital to investors in 2025, he told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
EQT also has the largest co-investment programme for its fund investors in the region, which helped fundraising, Salata said.
Global institutional and high-net-worth investors have looked to diversify from the U.S. due to a combination of high valuations, inflation risks and overall geopolitical uncertainty.
Asian markets, especially Japan and India, which offer a steady pipeline of buyout and growth opportunities respectively, have been a major focus for global asset managers.
"The buyout market in Asia generally has become a lot deeper, a lot more developed," Salata said, adding Japan was the most active part of the firm's current deal pipeline.
"We are also seeing quite a lot of generational change, corporate carve-outs and divestitures in Korea, (and) in India," he said.
The new fund made its first investment in Japanese lift manufacturer Fujitec, Salata said, taking the company private last year.
NEW FUND 40 per cent LARGER THAN LAST ASIA-FOCUSED FUND
EQT launched the fundraising for the BPEA Private Equity Fund IX, managed by EQT Private Capital Asia, in 2024.
The new fund is more than 40 per cent bigger than EQT's last Asia-focused fund of $11.2 billion raised in 2022, it said.
EQT, whose assets under management totalled 270 billion euros ($317.98 billion) by end-2025, merged with Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) in 2022 to strengthen its Asia footprint and expand its global platform.
The Stockholm-headquartered firm has invested $35 billion in the Asia Pacific since 1997, it said in the release.
Its chairperson and founder Conni Jonsson told Reuters last year Japan could become its biggest market in the region over the next five years and that the firm was hiring in Japan for its private capital, infrastructure and real estate teams.
In January, EQT announced the launch of a $371 million tender offer to privatise Japanese IT services company MAMEZO.
The firm has also launched tender offers to take private Seoul-listed Douzone Bizon, which has a market cap of $2.5 billion.
EQT in 2024 formed a consortium with Neuberger Berman Private Markets and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to take over international schools operator Nord Anglia Education, a portfolio it has controlled and grown since 2008, for $14.5 billion including debt.
($1 = 0.8491 euros)
