Buyout
Control acquisitions of established companies, from lower mid-market through large cap.
Coverage
What goes in, and what doesn't.
The markets and strategies being researched, and the standard a firm has to clear before it is recorded. Counts are published region by region, as each one is finished.
Why there are no numbers on this page yet. Research is under way and nothing has been sold. A firm count published today would be a count of work in progress, and buyers would reasonably read it as a count of finished, checked records. When a region is finished, its exact count is published here, generated from the records themselves rather than typed in by hand.
The standard
What checked has to mean.
The gap between a registry export and a usable list is entirely in this section. Every record has to clear all four of these before it counts.
- 01
The firm exists and is what it says it is
Confirmed against its own website plus at least one independent public source — a regulatory register entry, a statutory filing, or a transaction announcement naming it.
- 02
Its strategy comes from its own words
Strategy, sector focus and deal size are recorded as the firm publishes them, with the wording behind the classification kept against the record. Nothing is inferred from a deal history.
- 03
There is a route in
A working website, and where published, the firm enquiries address, the switchboard number and the partners it names publicly.
- 04
Anything unconfirmed is left out
A firm that cannot clear the first step does not go in, however plausible the name looked in a registry export.
By region
Where the firms are being researched.
| Region | Markets | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Europe | United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Nordics, the Benelux, Switzerland, Iberia and Italy | In research |
| North America | United States and Canada | In research |
| Asia-Pacific | Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, India, Korea and Southeast Asia | In research |
| Middle East | United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain | In research |
Europe
The deepest mid-market by number of independent sponsors, and the most fragmented. London and the DACH region are being researched first.
North America
The largest population of firms and the best public disclosure, because most managers of any size are registered investment advisers and file accordingly.
Asia-Pacific
Wide variation in what firms publish. Japanese and Australian managers disclose readily; several other markets do not.
Middle East
The smallest region by firm count, and the one where the line between a private equity firm, a family holding company and a sovereign arm is least clean.
By strategy
What counts as a private equity firm.
The label is used loosely in the market, so the directory is explicit about it. A firm is recorded under the strategy it describes for itself, and a firm running several appears under each.
Growth equity
Significant minority stakes in companies that are already trading profitably or near it.
Venture capital
Early and late stage minority investment, where the firm describes itself as a venture manager.
Private credit
Direct lending, unitranche and mezzanine, where a firm runs it as a distinct strategy.
Secondaries
LP and GP-led secondary purchases of existing fund interests and portfolios.
Independent sponsors
Deal-by-deal sponsors without a committed fund, who rarely appear in institutional databases at all.
Family offices that invest directly, sovereign funds and corporate venture arms are adjacent but not the same thing, and are out of scope here. Family offices are covered by a separate directory at seekfamilyoffice.com.
Coverage enquiry
Ask about your market.
If you need a particular country or strategy, say so. It tells us what to research next, and we will tell you honestly where that market stands today.