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Capital

Private Equity's Slow Spring

The first-quarter fundraising numbers are out. The story is the LPs who did not return calls.

By Pulse Chronicles
NEW YORK · April 14, 2025 · 2:30 PM ET
9 min read
Private Equity's Slow Spring

Final-close data for the first quarter, released last week, shows aggregate buyout fundraising down nineteen percent year-over-year. The headline understates what the limited-partner community has actually done.

Conversations with allocators at three large public pension systems and two sovereign funds describe a sharper retrenchment than the closed-fund totals suggest: a freeze on new manager commitments, a re-up bar that has roughly doubled, and an unusual willingness to walk away from longstanding relationships.

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