Private equity fundraising in both Europe and the US is booming as record amounts of buy-out fundraising flourish in both regions. The v...

Private equity fundraising in both Europe and the US is booming as record amounts of buy-out fundraising flourish in both regions. The value of final closes in Europe in the first quarter rose 33 per cent to €8.6 billion ($11.1 billion), compared with €6.5 billion in the same period last year, while in the US the total rose 54 per cent to $25 billion from $16.2 billion, according research from Almeida Capital, a London-based research company. This year is expected to see a record amount of buy-out fundraising in both territories as the dramatic improvement in distributions, greater liquidity and growing confidence feed through into commitments to the asset class. Research from Almeida Capital showed that there were eight final closes by European buy-out funds worth a combined €7.1 billion, up from €3.5 billion in the first quarter of 2004. The largest was the Carlyle Group's €1.8 billion European Partners II, followed by Barclays Private Equity's €1.65 billion fund. There are a handful of very large European buy-out funds in the market at present who look certain to close before the end of the year and contribute to a record-breaking total. CVC is expected to close with around €6 billion, BC Partners with around €5.5 billion, Apax with around €4 billion, PAI with €2.65 billion, and Bridgepoint and Advent International both with €2.5 billion. Almeida expects European fundraising to reach €42 billion this year, of which some 75 per cent will be contributed by buy-out funds.