(Pitch book) -- In the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis, private equity firms shied away from raising truly enormous sums of capital.
But that trend began to change during the middle half of the decade, and the apprehension about huge vehicles disappeared entirely during 2017— the Year of the Mega-Fund in the realm of the buyout giants. CVC Capital Partners, KKR, Silver Lake and Vista Equity Partners were all among the heavyweights to close funds that year on at least $10 billion, contributing to more than $160 billion raised across all mega-funds, the most since 2007.
There were so many $10 billion funds, in fact, that we found it appropriate to create an informal club of sorts.
It was a quieter 2018 in terms of such tremendous tallies. But the early indications are that 2019 might bring another increase in the frequency of eyebrow-raising sums for buyout funds.
A recent note from our analyst team offered an overview of PE mega-fund strategy, breaking down more than 15 years of data and presenting the cases for and against investing in mega-funds from an LP perspective.
And in a more forward-looking move, the note also scans the current PE landscape to highlight some of the mega-funds that are currently being raised or will soon be in the works.
Spoiler alert: There are a lot of them.
Here's a sampling of just some of the firms that could close funds on $10 billion or more—in some cases, a lot more—over the course of the next several months:
Blackstone
The investment giant has begun raising cash for its eighth flagship buyout fund, which is believed to have a target of $20 billion—a lofty mark only a few other firms have ever before reached.
Funnily enough, though, Blackstone is one of those firms: Back in 2007, it closed its fifth flagship fund on $21.7 billion.
The New York-based firm's latest efforts have been slightly more modest, including an $18 billion Fund VII that closed in 2015.
Vista Equity Partners
It's now been more than five months since a Wall Street Journal report emerged indicating that Vista had already raised $11.4 billion toward a $16 billion target for its latest vehicle, a rapid turnaround from its $11 billion funds from 2017 that continued a steady ascent to prominence for the tech-investing specialist.
A vehicle of that size would set a new firm record, and it's also believed it would surpass Silver Lake's $15 billion effort from 2017 as the largest pure buyout fund ever focused on the tech sector.
Thoma Bravo, another prominent PE firm with a clear tech focus, closed a $12.6 billion fund of its own in late January, the first $10 billion-plus effort of 2019.
Advent International
It's a busy fundraising year on multiple fronts for Advent International, including the recent launch of a new $1 billion tech fund. In even bigger news, a Private Equity International report from late March revealed the Boston-based investor has set a hard cap of $20 billion for its latest flagship fund, a major step up from a $13 billion predecessor; public LP documents from earlier this year indicated Advent has already begun gathering commitments.
TPG Capital
It's been an up-and-down past decade-plus for TPG Capital's flagship fund family, including a $19.8 billion monster that closed in 2008 and a much-smaller $10.5 billion follow-ups in 2016.
In its current ongoing effort, the firm seems to be splitting the difference: according to reports from late 2018, TPG had already raised $12 billion toward a targeted $14 billion for its eighth flagship fund and a related healthcare vehicle. Just last month, meanwhile, TPG hauled in $4.6 billion for a new PE fund focused on Asia.
Warburg Pincus
In yet another example of a firm that's already well on its way to raising an enormous pool of cash, Warburg Pincus has already received $14 billion in commitments for its latest flagship fund, per a Bloomberg report from last November, blowing past a $13.5 billion goal.
It's believed Warburg Pincus could ultimately bring in as much as $17 billion for the global growth fund, a major step up from a $13.4 billion predecessor from 2015.
