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When EQT appeared to signal in December that it might raise fees for some institutional clients making direct co-investments with the Swedish PE giant, many in the industry expressed shock.
In an article in the Financial Times, EQT's CEO Per Franzén was reported as telling analysts on a call that there is an "opportunity to monetize" the firm's co-investment deal flow.
EQT declined to comment for this piece but was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that the comments were taken out of context.
While some investors may feel reassured, the discussion around co-investment fees offers an insight into the shifting power dynamic between GPs and LPs.
The logic goes that as GPs become less dependent on institutional capital, thanks to the influx of private wealth funding, they might feel more confident in raising fees on sources of capital that were previously off-limits. This includes co-investments, which have historically been used more as a relationship-building tool than a revenue source.
However, there are several reasons why that shift may still be some way off.
I'm Emily Lai, and this is The Weekend Pitch. You can reach me at emily.lai@pitchbook.com or on X @ThisIsEmilyLai.
Co-investments remain essential for LPs, not only because the lower fee structure improves net returns, but also because they can offer greater transparency into the underlying portfolio, helping to build relationships with the GPs. According to Adams Street Partners' 2025 global investor survey, 88% of LPs plan to allocate up to 20% of their portfolios to co-investments over the next five years, up from 72% in 2022.
"The standard fee-free and carry-free kicker of co-investments has become part and parcel of how some of these very big institutional investors are deploying their capital," said Diederik Wintershoven, managing associate at Simmons & Simmons. "That's how they see their relationship with asset managers, even really high-conviction ones."
That expectation remains deeply entrenched. The CEO of CPP Investments said in a December interview with Bloomberg that the Canadian pension giant generally avoided partnering with firms that cannot maintain the traditional structure. That stance is unlikely to change soon, especially given ongoing fundraising challenges. |
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EQT, the Swedish PE firm, is buying London-based Coller Capital to expand into the growing secondaries market. What was Coller Capital's price tag?
A) $4.4 billion
B) $2.9 billion
C) $5.7 billion
D) $3.2 billion
Find your answer at the bottom of The Weekend Pitch! |
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A selection from our most-read articles of the past few days.
- After recording its first annual decline in more than a decade in 2024, the amount of dry powder held by private market funds began to grow again in 2025. View our global dashboard
- Startups promising a digital detox, from app blockers to retro phones, are tapping New Year's anti-screen ambitions. But the business of curing phone addiction raises questions about scale, funding, and whether users can really quit scrolling. Dial in
- Corporate investors are stepping up their defense tech investments as appetite for the vertical continues to build against an increasingly uncertain geopolitical backdrop. Read the full story
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| (Adriana Hansen/PitchBook News) |
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"Emerging interesting categories have spawned 12 to 15 startups in short order, and many will not graduate to the next level of financing, which means selling to a private rocket ship can still be very meaningful."
—Anders Ranum, partner at Sapphire Ventures, speaking on why investors remain bullish on startup-to-startup M&A, which is showing no signs of slowing down. |
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Keep an eye out for these insights and research reports coming out this week:
- 2026 VC IPO Outlook
- Q4 2025 UK Market Snapshot
- Q4 2025 Fintech & Payments Public Comp Sheet and Valuation Guide
- Q4 2025 Germany Market Snapshot
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Answer: D
EQT is purchasing Coller Capital for $3.2 billion. You can read more about the deal and why more PE firms are making a foray into secondaries by reading Emily Lai's report. |
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This edition of The Weekend Pitch was written by Emily Lai and Jacob Robbins. It was edited by Andrew Woodman and Michael Bruning.
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