Updated September 2026

Firms whose principal business is acquiring control of established companies.

The Largest Private Equity Firms

225 firms met the criteria · showing the ten largest · ranked by regulatory AUM on Form ADV

  1. 1

    KKR

    Global alternative manager best known for leveraged buyouts, with credit, infrastructure and real estate arms.

    kkr.com
    $381.6Breg. AUM
  2. 2

    Carlyle

    Global alternative manager best known for control private equity buyouts, plus credit and real assets.

    carlyle.com
    $283.8Breg. AUM
  3. 3

    Blackstone

    Blackstone advisory entity; parent is a global alternative asset manager known for private equity and real estate.

    blackstone.com
    $183.5Breg. AUM
  4. 4

    Thoma Bravo

    Software-focused private equity firm acquiring control stakes in enterprise technology companies.

    thomabravo.com
    $182.9Breg. AUM
  5. 5

    TPG

    Advisory entity of TPG, a global private equity firm doing control buyouts and growth investments.

    tpg.com
    $173.6Breg. AUM
  6. 6

    Silver Lake

    Technology-focused private equity firm making large control and structured investments in software, internet and tech-enabled businesses.

    silverlake.com
    $117.8Breg. AUM
  7. 7

    Hellman & Friedman

    Private equity firm making large control buyouts in software, financial services, healthcare and consumer sectors.

    hf.com
    $110.4Breg. AUM
  8. 8

    Vista Equity Partners

    Private equity firm acquiring and growing enterprise software and data-focused technology companies.

    vistaequitypartners.com
    $106.0Breg. AUM
  9. 9

    Bain Capital

    Private equity firm making control buyout investments in companies globally.

    baincapital.com
    $96.4Breg. AUM
  10. 10

    Cerberus Capital Management

    Alternative manager investing in distressed credit, control buyouts and real estate assets.

    cerberus.com
    $92.5Breg. AUM

How this register is built

The number

Regulatory assets under management as disclosed on Form ADV, filed with the SEC. Each filing is public.

The classification

Firms are placed by the strategy they are principally known for. A manager filing several entities appears once, at its largest.

What is excluded

Banks, brokerages, index managers and wealth advisers. Their assets are a different measure and ranking them beside a fund’s regulatory AUM would be meaningless.

Links

Every website is resolved to the firm’s own corporate domain and checked before publication. Where we cannot confirm one, we print no link rather than a guess.

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