Business Day

Best Conditions in Years to Raise New Funds Seen in 2015

Successive years of strong cash distributions supported limited partners' capacity to plow capital back into private equity across every region of the world in 2015.

By Hugh MacArthur, Graham Elton and Andrei Vorobyov

Published on May 03, 2016
min read


This article originally appeared on Business Day. General partners (GPs) setting out to raise new funds in 2015 encountered some of the best conditions they had seen in years. With cash distributions from exits continuing to run well ahead of calls on previous commitments limited partners (LPs) had made for a fifth consecutive year, abundant fresh capital enabled most GPs to hit or exceed their fund-raising targets. Funds are also raising capital more quickly, on average, than in any year since the height of the last private equity (PE) cycle nearly a decade ago. As we explain in Bain & Company’s Global Private Equity Report 2016, successive years of strong cash distributions supported LPs’ capacity to plow capital back into PE across every region of the world in 2015. Since distributions of cash returns first surpassed calls on prior LPs' commitments in 2011, PE funds funneled more than $650bn to LPs through mid-2015 – nearly $300bn more than LPs sent back to meet call obligations, leaving a sizeable amount available to back new funds just to replenish PE allocations. The strong exit markets since 2010 and the torrent of returns they have generated at a time of flattening yields have only whetted LPs’ appetites for more PE. Read the full article at Business Day. Hugh MacArthur and Graham Elton are leaders of Bain & Company’s Private Equity Group. Andrei Vorobyov is a Bain & Company partner based in Johannesburg where he leads Africa's Private Equity and M&A Practices.

This article originally appeared on Business Day.

General partners (GPs) setting out to raise new funds in 2015 encountered some of the best conditions they had seen in years.

With cash distributions from exits continuing to run well ahead of calls on previous commitments limited partners (LPs) had made for a fifth consecutive year, abundant fresh capital enabled most GPs to hit or exceed their fund-raising targets.

Funds are also raising capital more quickly, on average, than in any year since the height of the last private equity (PE) cycle nearly a decade ago.

As we explain in Bain & Company’s Global Private Equity Report 2016, successive years of strong cash distributions supported LPs’ capacity to plow capital back into PE across every region of the world in 2015.

Since distributions of cash returns first surpassed calls on prior LPs' commitments in 2011, PE funds funneled more than $650bn to LPs through mid-2015 – nearly $300bn more than LPs sent back to meet call obligations, leaving a sizeable amount available to back new funds just to replenish PE allocations. The strong exit markets since 2010 and the torrent of returns they have generated at a time of flattening yields have only whetted LPs’ appetites for more PE.

Read the full article at Business Day.

Hugh MacArthur and Graham Elton are leaders of Bain & Company’s Private Equity Group. Andrei Vorobyov is a Bain & Company partner based in Johannesburg where he leads Africa's Private Equity and M&A Practices.