Private equity and private debt firms are set to recruit more staff in 2018 as the industry sees a growth wave.
Preqin, a provider of alternative assets data, says the number of private capital firms – which includes real estate and infrastructure – globally had “rebounded” in recent years following a decline since the financial crisis.
There are now 7,500 active private capital firms worldwide, employing almost 200,000 members of staff, Preqin says.
In 2016, 500 new firms were founded, and a further 309 have been established in 2017 year-to-date.
The average number of employees varies with the assets under management of the firms. The smallest firms employ an average of 13 members, and the largest firms employ an average of 199 people.
As at December 2016, assets under management amounted to $4.6 trillion (€3.95 trillion), while 2015 and 2016 saw the highest capital distributions on record – $858 billion and $909 billion, respectively.
In private equity, there are an estimated 108,400 people working within the industry, according to Preqin’s ‘November 2017 Private equity spotlight’.
Christopher Elvin, head of private equity products at Preqin, said: “The private capital industry has seen an overall trend of healthy growth, with the number of active firms in market increasing at a more rapid pace in the past couple of years.
“This expansion of the industry has led many private capital firms to expand their operations, and the majority intend to keep recruiting additional staff through 2018.”
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