Barış Öney
EUROPEAN FUNDRAISING HIT AN EIGHT YEAR HIGH IN 2016, reports the Financial Times, citing an annual study from Invest Europe, the main trade group for the private equity industry in Europe. Moreover, the €74.5 billion raised represents a 37 percent year-on-year increase. “Over 40 percent of capital raised by European PE last year came from investors outside Europe,” says Michael Collins, chief executive of Invest Europe. Meanwhile, Real Deals, citing activity in Palico’s marketplace, notes that five of the 10 most popular funds in the secondary market over the last six months have Europe as their investment focus. “With the euro relatively weak against the dollar on a historic basis, many investors clearly believe that the best [private equity] bargains are in Europe,” Palico notes.
SOFTBANK’S RECORD-SETTING FUND HOLDS A FIRST CLOSE ON $93 BILLION, reports Private Equity International. The SoftBank Vision Fund, “already four times larger than the largest-ever private equity fund,” will buy minority and majority stakes in private and public tech companies encompassing everything from small startups to large, established, multi-billion dollar companies. It aims to invest in every region of the globe and in every facet of technology, “from the ‘internet of things’ to computational biology to technology infrastructure.” The fund, aiming for a final close on $100 billion within six months, is likely to contribute to an increase in the number of ‘unicorns’ – private companies worth $1 billion or more – and should add to the time such companies remain private before seeking a stock market listing.
AND NOW THE RESULTS OF SOME OF OUR RECENT KEYTRENDS QUICK QUESTIONS:
- 47 percent of LPs say they will compromise on potential performance in order to put an exceptionally large amount of money to work.
- 50 percent of responding LPs are either invested in a secondary fund or interested in committing to one.
- 53 percent of respondents believe a significant number of large U.S. public pension funds will embark on direct PE investment programs in the next five years.
Source: Palico
