The 5 Largest Private Equity Firms in 2022 (2024)

FAQs

What are the big 4 PE firms? ›

Which private equity firms are publicly traded? The four largest publicly traded private equity firms are Apollo Global Management (APO), The Blackstone Group (BX), The Carlyle Group (CG), and KKR & Co.

In 2022, the US private equity sector included approximately 5,000 private equity firms and 18,000 PE-backed companies. Jobs at private equity firms are estimated to be less than 1% of US private equity sector employment.

The Global Private Equity Market has been valued at USD 645.2 Billion in 2022 and is anticipated to exhibit significant growth through the year 2028, with a CAGR of 13.45%.

While Blackstone's AUM is substantial, it is smaller than BlackRock's, with around $800 billion in assets under management. In summary, BlackRock is larger in terms of assets under management compared to Blackstone.

KKR managed to make it to the No. 1 spot on the PEI 300 list in 2022. But its stay was short-lived, as Blackstone dethroned it in 2023.

Industry mergers and acquisitions led to consolidations, narrowing them down to the Big 5: PwC, KPMG, EY, Deloitte, and Arthur Anderson. They became the Big 4 after the collapse of Arthur Anderson following the Enron and WorldCom scandals.

In general, PwC and Deloitte are considered the most prestigious of the Big 4. If you ask most people about prestige, they'll probably rank PwC/Deloitte > EY > KPMG.

The six major audit firms in India—Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton, KPMG, MSKA, and PwC—oversaw a significant portion of audits in the Nifty 500 companies in financial year 2023-24 (FY24). They collectively managed 323 out of 483 assignments, representing about 67% of all audits, according to primeinfobase.com.

Which PE firms have the most dry powder? ›

Apollo Global Management Inc. APO, -0.54% leads the list with $55.1 billion in dry powder, followed by $43.2 billion for KKR & Co. KKR, -1.51% , $39.44 billion for CVC Capital Partners and $30.9 billion for Ardian.

With a growing pool of capital targeting secondaries, strong investor demand, and an evolving private equity landscape that prioritizes flexibility for both General Partners and Limited Partners, the secondaries market is poised for continued dominance, shaping the future of private equity through efficient capital ...

The top 3 private equity stocks have outperformed the S&P 500 by 9.6% over five years. And they're cheap right now too. Private equity stocks could pay off handsomely.

Leading the list this year is Stephen Schwarzman, chairman and CEO of Blackstone Group, with a net worth of $37.4 billion. While he originally cofounded Blackstone as a boutique merger-and-acquisition advisory business in 1985, it has since evolved into the world's largest buyout firm, with $684 billion in assets.

Based on that, the most commonly cited names in this category are Blackstone, KKR, Carlyle, Apollo, and TPG. Other names could potentially be on this list as well: CVC, Apax, and EQT in Europe; Ares, Warburg Pincus, Advent, and Silver Lake in the U.S.; and Brookfield in Canada.

As private equity investors since 1980, the J.P. Morgan Private Equity Group (PEG) is one of the longest-standing PE firms in the industry.