Raising money for large private equity funds is the “most difficult the industry has ever seen” as it contends with higher interest rates and tighter liquidity, Onex Corp. Chief Executive Officer Bobby Le Blanc said.
(Bloomberg) — Raising money for large private equity funds is the “most difficult the industry has ever seen” as it contends with higher interest rates and tighter liquidity, Onex Corp. Chief Executive Officer Bobby Le Blanc said.
“Like many other larger-cap PE funds, we got caught in a bad part of the fundraising cycle,” Le Blanc said Thursday during Onex’s Investor Day. This has forced the company to contend with the knock-on effects, but those were navigated “pretty well overall,” he said.
Rising borrowing costs, reluctant banks and recession fears have all weighed on the buyout industry. Add to that, some institutional investors have run out of new capital to commit to illiquid assets after reaching allocation limits during last year’s market decline.
The Toronto-based firm was affected by the turmoil, pausing fundraising for its flagship fund. Onex is pushing ahead with raising money for its smaller fund.
“It’s important to remember, this is only one point in time and only one part of the Onex story,” Le Blanc said.
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