2017 Year in Review: The top PE investors of the year in…

Who was the most active PE investor in the world last year? How about in Europe?

What about in the booming IT sector? Who conducted the most add-ons, and which were the busiest firms located outside the US and Europe?

To find the answers to those questions and more, we sliced and diced PitchBook Platform data on 2017's top PE investors more than a dozen different ways. Here's what we found:

Deal type

All
1. KKR (102)
2. HarbourVest Partners (86)
3. Audax Group (81)
4. The Carlyle Group (79)
5. Blackstone (77)

Add-ons
1. HarbourVest Partners (74)
2. Audax Group (69)
3. KKR (59)
4. AlpInvest Partners (54)
5. ABRY Partners (53)

PE growth rounds
1. BGF (23)
2. Bpifrance (16)
3. Warburg Pincus (15)
4. KKR (14)
5. Maven Capital Partners (12)

Location

Europe (firm HQ)
1. Ardian (69)
T-2. Bpifrance, AlpInvest Partners (55)
4. EQT Partners (53)
5. BGF (45)

Europe (company HQ)
1. Bpifrance (53)
2. Ardian (48)
3. BGF (43)
4. EQT (36)
5. KKR (35)

Non-US, non-Europe (firm HQ)
1. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (40)
2. The Abraaj Group (15)
3. Novacap Investments (13)
4. OMERS Private Equity (12)
5. Baring Private Equity Asia (9)

Non-US, non-Europe (company HQ)
1. KKR (25)
2. Warburg Pincus (20)
3. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (15)
4. The Carlyle Group (14)
T-5. Blackstone, The Abraaj Group (13)

Sector

B2B
1. Blackstone (37)
2. Ardian (36)
3. Audax Group (35)
4. KKR (33)
5. The Carlyle Group (31)

B2C
1. L Catterton (18)
2. Ardian (14)
3. KKR (13)
T-4. Bpifrance, BGF, Audax Group (12)

Energy
1. The Carlyle Group (9)
2. Blackstone (8)
T-3. Tailwater Capital, EnCap Investments (7)
T-5. Warburg Pincus, KKR, ArcLight Capital Partners, Post Oak Energy Capital (6)

Financial services
1. HarbourVest Partners (52)
T-2. Hellman & Friedman, AlpInvest Partners (32)
4. Stone Point Capital (21)
5. HPS Investment Partners (17)

Healthcare
1. Audax Group (26)
2. Shore Capital Partners (23)
3. ABRY Partners (17)
4. KKR (12)
T-5. The Carlyle Group, Silver Oak Services Partners (11)

IT
1. Vista Equity Partners (32)
2. Providence Equity Partners (23)
3. KKR (22)
4. Insight Venture Partners (20)
5. TA Associates (19)

Materials & resources
1. BC Partners (8)
T-2. The Jordan Company, Ardian (6)
4. Bpifrance (5)
T-5. Pritzker Group Private Capital, CM-CIC Investissement, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Societe Generale Capital Partenaires, Atlas Holdings (4)
 

Check out more of our year in review coverage.