The world’s biggest private equity firms and their investments into airports
Previous CAPA - Centre for Aviation special reports have identified the impact that Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) and Pension Funds have made on the airport sector by way of their investments.
There are other alternative financing techniques, and private equity is one of them.
This report examines who the main actors in private equity are.
They include some firms that have a disproportionate influence into the psychology of boardroom behaviour in some of the world's leading companies. Also, some that are likely to be at the very forefront of the rebuilding of Ukraine, including its air transport system.
More mundanely, although a high number of the leading private equity firms have demonstrated an interest in the airport sector at times - including some notably off-the-wall instances where there was no obvious rationale for that interest - they have, by and large, been more reluctant to invest than have SWFs and Pension Funds.
- Private equity firms have shown interest in the airport sector, although their impact has been less significant compared to sovereign wealth funds and pension funds.
- Private equity firms typically provide financial backing to start-ups and non-publicly traded companies.
- There are 55 known private equity, hedge funds, and venture capital firms connected to the airport sector as of January 2023.
- Six out of the top 10 private equity firms have expressed interest in the airport sector.
- The majority of these firms specialize in technology-enabling and software companies.
- CAPA has published a special report investigating each of the top private equity firms and their investments in airports.
Summary
- This report follows previous ones on sovereign wealth funds and pension funds concerning their impact on airports and their infrastructure investments.
- Like those investors, private equity sees airports in terms of longevity, yet it is typically offered to start-ups.
- There is a higher number of participants from private equity than from SWFs and pension funds combined, but their impact is less significant.
- At the top end of the scale some of the world's biggest actors in private equity have at least demonstrated interest in airports. But only one participant is known to have a designated airports division.
Private Equity, like other alternative financing processes, considers airports in terms of longevity, yet finance is typically offered to start-ups
Previous CAPA - Centre for Aviation reports identified the world's leading sovereign wealth funds and pension funds and which of them invested in, or at least paid attention to, the airports business.
This report turns to private equity firms.
Like SWFs and pension funds, private equity has been attracted to the traditional security and longevity of airports - at least, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report examines the top private equity firms by asset size, and at those that have airport interests - meaning that they are investors, have been investors, or have indicated an aspiration to be such.
Private equity firms typically provide financial backing to start-ups and companies that are not traded on public stock exchanges.
The previous reports made reference to a research report of participants in airport financing published in 2018, also to the CAPA Global Airport Investors Database (GAID).
There are 55 known private equity, hedge funds and venture capital firms connected to the airport sector in 2023
That report has since been re-examined and the chart below has been produced, valid as of Jan-2023.
The chart shows that there has been an increase in representation from the Sovereign Wealth and Pension Fund segments and also from the Private Equity segment, which is actually bigger in terms of participants than SWFs and Pension Funds combined.
Airport investors: by type, as at Jan-2023
Six of the Top 10 private equity firms have divulged airport sector interest
In the table below the world's largest private equity firms by assets held are listed. Those that also appear in the GAID are highlighted in bold.
The first 10 are listed as the world's Top 10 by total equity by Investopedia, not necessarily by assets under management (AUM). The remainder are not listed by any measure.
The majority of these firms specialise in technology-enabling and software companies.
Private Equity firms: by country and assets listed
|
Rank |
Firm |
Country |
Assets under management - where known (USD billions) |
|
1 |
Blackstone Group |
USA |
881 (2021) |
|
2 |
KKR |
USA |
504 (2022) |
|
3 |
CVC Capital Partners |
Luxembourg |
153 (2023) |
|
4 |
Carlyle Group Inc |
USA |
373 (2022) |
|
5 |
Thoma Bravo |
USA |
120 (2022) |
|
6 |
EQT |
Sweden/Netherlands |
227 (2022) |
|
7 |
Vista Equity Partners |
USA |
96 (2022) |
|
8 |
TPG Capital |
USA |
135 (2022) |
|
9 |
Warburg Pincus |
UK |
82.7 (2022) |
|
10 |
Neuberger Berman Group |
USA |
460 (2021) |
|
11 |
General Atlantic
|
USA |
71 (2022) |
|
12 |
Advent International
|
USA |
89 (2022) |
|
13 |
Bain Capital
|
USA |
165 (2022) |
|
14 |
Apollo Global Management |
USA |
101 (2022) |
|
15 |
Hellman & Friedman LLC |
USA |
85 (2022) |
|
16 |
Brookfield Asset Management |
Canada |
725 (2022) |
|
17 |
TA Associates |
USA |
45 (2022) |
|
18 |
Francisco Partners |
USA |
42 (2023) |
|
19 |
Insight Partners |
USA |
90 (2022) |
|
20 |
Apax Partners |
UK |
65 (2022) |
|
21 |
Silver Lake
|
USA |
92 (2022) |
The immediate take-away from this table is that nine of the 21 firms have an airports sector interest or have declared one, and six of the Top 10.
CAPA report investigates each of the top private equity firms
In a special report, CAPA investigates each of the biggest private equity firms. You can download it here: The world's biggest private equity firms and their investments into airports