German PE funds raised €2.9 billion during the first nine months of 2023, an uplift of €1.3 billion from last year’s annual total, according to PitchBook’s Q3 2023 Germany Market Snapshot. If fundraising continues at the same pace, it could rival 2021’s sum of €3.9 billion.
This recovery is in line with wider European PE fundraising, which has also increased this year. European PE funds raised €86 billion during the first three quarters of 2023, compared to last year’s full-year total of €76.1 billion, according to PitchBook’s Q3 2023 European PE Breakdown.
However, in contrast to the wider European PE markets—where mega-funds have played a leading role—German PE funds closing this year have on average been smaller than in 2022.
Fourteen German PE funds closed in the first three quarters of the year to raise €2.9 billion, compared to €1.6 billion across seven vehicles last year.
The majority of funds are in the €250 million to €500 million bucket. The Afinum 9 fund, which closed on €420 million in April, is the largest to have closed so far in 2023. Wider European PE fundraising has been dominated by mega-funds, with the three largest funds accounting for 57.7% of all capital raised so far this year.
2019 was the last time that a PE mega-fund—a vehicle worth €5 billion or more—closed in Germany. That year, German PE funds raised €13.8 billion, the country’s highest annual PE fundraising total on record.
The European Investment Fund has been the biggest contributor to German PE funds in the last three years, making nine commitments since 2020.
Read more: Q3 2023 Germany Market Snapshot
Featured image by Sylvain Sonnet/Getty Images
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