EQT Targets Larger Buyouts in Shift From U.S. Mid-Market

(Bloomberg) -- EQT Partners AB, one of Europe’s largest private equity firms, will refocus its North American strategy on larger buyouts and won’t raise a new mid-market fund for the region, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The team, based in New York, will focus on securing North American deals for EQT’s main buyout fund, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. The firm raised $726 million in 2016 for its first effort, though the company had targeted $1 billion, people familiar with the matter said previously.

The decision won’t impact the Stockholm-based fund’s mid-market investment ambitions in Europe, which continue to be core to the business, two of the people said.

A representative for EQT declined to comment.

The decision to repurpose the group comes as EQT considers listing shares on the stock market or attracting a new investor to raise capital for further growth. A year ago, EQT raised 10.8 billion euros ($12.3 billion) for EQT VIII, its largest fundraising to date, dwarfing its original 8 billion euro target.

EQT, an alternative investment firm founded in 1994, has raised about 50 billion euros across industries including private equity, real estate, infrastructure and credit. The U.S. fund has bought stakes in Zemax Software Holdings and Clinical Innovations.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kiel Porter in New York at kporter17@bloomberg.net;Sarah Syed in London at ssyed35@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, ;Dinesh Nair at dnair5@bloomberg.net, Amy Thomson

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