Key Takeaways:
EQT AB's adjusted revenue rose 5% to €1.41bn in H1 2026, as the Swedish buyout group raised €17.8bn in new commitments and expanded fee-generating AUM to €155bn, positioning it for market share gains in a tough fundraising climate.
"Thanks to very strong fundraising momentum and value creation during the quarter, our recently launched AI Infrastructure fund reached more than $9bn in NAV in less than three months post launch," said Per Franzén, CEO and Managing Partner at EQT, in the half-year report released Thursday.
Adjusted fee-related revenue, excluding retroactive fees, grew 5% to €1.11bn, while carried interest and investment income totaled €266m. Adjusted EBITDA came in at €837m, representing a 60% margin, and adjusted net income reached €691m, or €0.590 per share. The group's total AUM stood at €291bn as of June 30, up from €266bn at year-end 2025.
The results highlight EQT's ability to raise capital across multiple strategies simultaneously. BPEA IX closed at its $15.6bn hard cap — the largest Asia Pacific-dedicated private equity fund ever raised — while EQT Infrastructure VII set a €21bn target and EQT XI secured commitments for half its target before activation. The AI Infrastructure fund, seeded through portfolio company EdgeConneX, reached $9.4bn in fee-generating AUM within three months. On the deployment side, EQT announced €19bn in gross fund investments, including the public tender for clean energy platform AES in North America and the acquisition of waste management provider Urbaser. Exit activity totaled €7bn, with €17bn returned to fund and co-investors over the past six months, building on a record 2025.
Fundraising Momentum Across Strategies
EQT's evergreen platform reached €5.6bn in NAV, or approximately €10bn including the pending Coller Capital acquisition, which remains on track to close in mid-to-late Q3 2026. The group launched two new evergreen vehicles for private wealth and was selected by the European Commission for the €5bn Scaleup Europe Fund mandate. Net inflows to evergreens totaled €1.8bn, with redemptions running at roughly 0.5% of NAV per quarter.
Key fund valuations rose 5% in the period, with all funds performing on or above plan. Infrastructure saw double-digit value uplift led by digital and energy subsectors, while the Private Capital portfolio posted 14% EBITDA growth in Europe and North America. EQT X recorded mid-single-digit value creation with weighted-average EBITDA growth of 24% over the past 12 months.
Outlook and Strategic Positioning
EQT is currently in active fundraising for more than 20 funds and has added four new strategies with expected fee-generating AUM of at least €5bn each. The group's balance sheet remains strong, with net debt of €1.6bn equivalent to 1.0x adjusted EBITDA, and its €1.5bn revolving credit facility undrawn. Management expressed confidence that the combination with Coller Capital will further strengthen client relationships and expand the secondaries and solutions offering, which will be reported as a new operating segment upon closing.
The ability to raise capital across private capital, infrastructure, real estate, and the emerging secondaries platform positions EQT to capture a larger share of the €14tn global private markets industry, where institutional investors continue to increase allocations despite a challenging exit environment.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
