Investor types

Private equity funds

Q: How often do managers raise a new fund?

On average every 4.7 years in 2025, according to McKinsey.1

A private equity fund is the legal vehicle, usually a limited partnership, through which investors commit capital that a manager draws down to buy companies and later returns as distributions. This page covers the vehicle itself: how it is structured, how much is raised and what has changed in 2025 and 2026.

What a private equity fund is

A private equity fund is a closed-end pooled vehicle. Investors, known as limited partners (LPs), commit a fixed amount of capital at the outset. The general partner (GP) draws that capital down as it finds investments and returns proceeds to LPs as companies are sold. The fund has a defined life and LPs cannot normally redeem their interests before it ends. The fund itself has no employees or operations: its terms are set by the limited partnership agreement and its decisions are taken by the GP.

The fund is separate from the manager that runs it, which is described on the page on private equity firms. It also differs from evergreen and semi-liquid funds, which admit new money and allow periodic redemptions, and from funds of funds, which invest in other funds rather than directly in companies.

Scale of fundraising: global and by region

Global closed-end private equity fundraising declined 17% in 2025 to approximately US$616 billion, according to McKinsey's Global Private Markets Report 2026.¹ The regional pattern diverged sharply. North American fundraising rose 8% year on year, European fundraising declined 41% to US$118 billion and Asia-Pacific fundraising fell 49% to US$49 billion.¹

Across all private capital strategies, PitchBook recorded global fundraising of US$1,291.6 billion in 2024, according to its Q1 2025 Global Private Market Fundraising Report of 23 May 2025.²

Invest Europe, which measures funds raised by European managers on its own basis, recorded €147 billion of private equity and venture capital fundraising in 2025, up 16% and second only to 2022. Buyout funds raised €103 billion of that total, up 33%.³ The difference between McKinsey's European decline and Invest Europe's rise reflects different scopes and methods.

Legal structures and fund types

Most private equity funds are limited partnerships. Common forms are the English limited partnership, the Scottish limited partnership, the Delaware limited partnership and the Luxembourg special limited partnership (SCSp). The GP manages the partnership and LPs have limited liability in exchange for having no role in day-to-day management. Large funds often add parallel vehicles for investors with particular tax or regulatory needs.

In Switzerland, the Limited Qualified Investor Fund (L-QIF) has been available since 1 March 2024.⁴

Alongside the main or flagship fund, managers raise co-investment programmes, secondaries funds and continuation funds. Invest Europe began reporting fundraising and investment levels for continuation funds separately in its 2025 data.³ A newer form is the collateralised fund obligation, a rated structure that packages fund interests; Pantheon closed its first such vehicle in May 2026.⁵

Source of capital and investment horizon

The fund's capital comes entirely from LP commitments, including the GP's own commitment. Typical LPs are pension funds, endowments and foundations, insurers, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and funds of funds. Capital is not paid in at the start: the GP issues capital calls as each investment is made.

A fund's life has two phases. During the investment period the GP calls capital and buys companies. During the harvest period it sells them and distributes the proceeds. The speed at which cash returns to LPs is measured by DPI (distributions to paid-in capital). McKinsey found that DPI as a share of total private equity assets under management was 6% in the twelve months to June 2025, against an average of 16% in 2015 to 2019, and that five-year rolling DPI fell to about 10%, the lowest level recorded.¹ Average holding periods reached 6.6 years in 2025, which lengthens the effective life of funds.¹

How funds acquire and hold companies

A fund usually buys a company through a newly formed acquisition vehicle financed with a mix of fund equity and debt, so that acquisition debt sits in the company structure rather than in the fund itself. Bain reported in June 2026 that debt markets were open, with abundant dry powder available to fund deals.⁶

Where companies stay in a fund longer than planned, GPs increasingly use GP-led secondaries. GP-led secondary volume reached US$115 billion in 2025, and deferred purchase price mechanisms and similar features were used in approximately 29% of GP-led transaction volume.⁷

Minimum commitments and fund sizes

Minimum commitments vary with the fund and the investor base. Institutional Swiss private equity funds often require commitments of CHF 250,000 or more.⁴ The largest flagship funds raise tens of billions: CVC Capital Partners IX closed at €26 billion in July 2023, above its €25 billion target,⁸ and EQT X closed at its €22 billion hard cap in February 2024.⁹ Capital is concentrating in such funds. According to McKinsey, funds above US$5 billion took 35% of fundraising in 2025, against 28% in 2021, while funds below US$500 million fell to 13%.¹

How LP decisions are made and how long they take

Each LP decides independently whether to commit to a fund, usually after reviewing the private placement memorandum, the limited partnership agreement and due diligence on the manager. Within the fund, governance is set by the limited partnership agreement. Many funds also have an LP advisory committee of the larger investors, which does not approve individual investments but is consulted on conflicts of interest and similar matters.

Fundraising cycles are long. McKinsey found that the average time between a manager's fundraises remained stable at 4.7 years in 2025, slightly above the prior 15-year average of 4.6 years.¹

What LPs look for and why they decline

The market data show the result of LP choices: capital is concentrating in the largest funds, as the figures above show. Low distributions also constrain new commitments, because LPs that receive less cash back from older funds have less to commit to new ones. Bain described fundraising in the first half of 2026 as "mired in the doldrums".⁶

Regulation and governance

Funds marketed in the UK and the European Union fall within the alternative investment fund managers regime (AIFMD and its UK equivalent). Directive (EU) 2024/927, known as AIFMD II, added rules on liquidity management, depositary services and loan origination by funds.¹⁰ In Switzerland, funds are governed by the Collective Investment Schemes Act (CISA) and their distribution by the Financial Services Act (FinSA).⁴ Under FinSA, a retail client can opt out to professional status with CHF 500,000 of assets plus relevant knowledge and experience, or with CHF 2 million of assets.⁴

Trends in 2025 and 2026

The defining trend is the growth of semi-liquid vehicles beside the classic closed-end fund. Fundraising into US semi-liquid private equity vehicles reached US$204 billion in 2025, more than double the US$92 billion of 2023.¹ According to McKinsey, higher-liquidity products accounted for 25% to 30% of alternative assets under management growth and grew 20% to 25% in 2025.¹¹

The secondary market has grown to provide liquidity. Jefferies recorded global secondary volume of US$162 billion in 2024, up 45% from US$112 billion in 2023.¹² Jefferies recorded a further rise to US$240 billion in 2025.⁷

Closed-end fundraising, by contrast, stayed weak. After the 17% global decline in 2025,¹ Bain reported in June 2026 that fundraising momentum "remains uninspiring", while large funds such as KKR North America Fund XIV and Bain Capital Asia Fund VI still closed during the year.⁶

Notable examples

Fund or programme	Manager headquarters	Size and date
CVC Capital Partners IX	Jersey (registered office)	€26 billion, final close 20 July 2023⁸
EQT X	Stockholm	€22 billion of total commitments, 27 February 2024⁹
HarbourVest seventh direct co-investment programme	Boston	US$4.75 billion, according to BusinessWire, 10 July 2026¹³
Adams Street Secondaries Investment Program	Chicago	Over US$5 billion of commitments, 3 August 2026¹⁴
Pantheon inaugural private equity collateralised fund obligation	London	US$1 billion, above a US$750 million target, 7 May 2026⁵

The table is not a ranking and implies no recommendation.

How placement agents and advisers work with funds

Placement agents support primary fundraising: they help a GP prepare fund documents, identify suitable LPs and manage the process to a first and final close. Secondary advisers work at the other end of a fund's life, running sales of LP fund interests and structuring GP-led transactions such as continuation funds, in which assets move from an older fund to a new vehicle so that existing LPs can either sell or roll over.⁷ In these transactions the adviser deals with the GP and, where conflicts arise, with the LP advisory committee. Advisers selling a company to a fund deal with the GP's deal team, which signs on the fund's behalf.

Anglo-Suisse Capital advises on capital raising, M&A and secondary transactions with professional investors.

Frequently asked questions

How much did private equity funds raise in 2025?

Global closed-end private equity fundraising declined 17% to approximately US$616 billion in 2025, according to McKinsey.¹ European managers raised €147 billion of private equity and venture capital, according to Invest Europe.³

Are LPs getting cash back from private equity funds?

Slowly. McKinsey found that distributions were 6% of private equity assets under management in the twelve months to June 2025, against a 2015 to 2019 average of 16%.¹

What is a continuation fund?

A vehicle into which a GP moves companies from an older fund so that existing LPs can sell or roll over their interest. GP-led secondary volume reached US$115 billion in 2025.⁷

Are evergreen funds replacing closed-end funds?

They are growing faster. Fundraising into US semi-liquid private equity vehicles reached US$204 billion in 2025, against US$92 billion in 2023.¹

How often do managers raise a new fund?

On average every 4.7 years in 2025, according to McKinsey.¹

What is the minimum commitment to a Swiss private equity fund?

Institutional Swiss private equity funds often require CHF 250,000 or more.⁴

Who manages a private equity fund?

The general partner, which is usually an affiliate of the private equity firm that sponsors the fund.

Working with Anglo-Suisse Capital

Anglo-Suisse Capital advises companies, fund managers and shareholders on capital raising, M&A and secondary transactions with professional investors in the UK, Switzerland and internationally.

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Sources

This page is general information for professional investors and is not investment advice. Figures are taken from the sources listed, as at the dates stated.