EQT has agreed a $375mn deal to buy US real estate firm Stockbridge just months after its purchase of London’s Coller Capital, as an increasing number of leading private capital groups seek to compete on size. Stockholm-listed EQT said on Thursday that it would buy the Californian firm that manages about $37bn in assets, after closing its $3.7bn acquisition of Coller in August. Stockbridge, which invests across property types with an emphasis on residential and industrial, will become part of EQT’s real estate arm, itself largely established through the acquisition of US firm Exeter in 2021.
Big private equity firms have had to make a choice in recent years between going public and buying rivals to compete with other diversified multi-strategy managers, or staying private in the hope that performance or differentiation can attract investors in a tough environment. EQT’s European peer CVC listed in 2024 and later struck a deal to buy US credit firm Marathon Asset Management. It is still looking for a real estate group outside Europe.
The wider private equity sector has struggled for several years to sell assets at desired valuations, many of which were bought at relatively high prices in the years before interest rate rises in 2022. That has translated into a tough fundraising environment that, in turn, has triggered predictions of smaller firms selling out to bigger managers. Some discussions have failed to lead to deals as cultural differences have been among the barriers for the people-focused firms.
Talks between listed Swiss firm Partners Group and US groups Advent International and Leonard Green came to nothing, while this summer the FT revealed that listed US group Ares Management also held talks with Leonard Green, but nothing has materialised. EQT’s purchase comes as the Swedish group sold €1.2bn worth of private equity holdings in the third quarter, down slightly on the same period in 2025, which was a strong year for the group in terms of exiting investments and returning cash to fund investors. Exits increased year on year in the firm’s infrastructure and real estate arms.
It invested €3bn in the third quarter of this year from its private equity funds, down from €3.9bn year on year, but deployment grew in infrastructure and real estate. EQT closed the quarter with €354bn in assets under management, boosted by the acquisition of so-called secondaries firm Coller, up from €267bn at the same time last year. The firm said it would activate its latest flagship private equity and infrastructure funds in the next few months, with the market expecting each to close with more than €20bn.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing