Asia PE fundraising hits $58bn, a 12-year low but exits are bouncing back

The Asia-Pacific private equity market is moving at two speeds.

Fundraising dropped to $58 billion in 2025, a 12-year low and down 37% year-on-year. At the same time, exit values climbed 24% to $150 billion.

The details

Asia's share of global PE fundraising: just 5%, down from 12% in 2021. New fund count dropped 44%. LPs have become pickier, backing managers with proven track records over newcomers.

Bright spot Japan: $15 billion raised (+12%), the only major market with growth in both deal value and count.

Deal activity was mixed overall: value down 8%, but count up 6%. Average buyout size shrank to $438 million (from $630 million the year prior), a five-year low. Multiples, though, climbed to 13.4x EV/EBITDA (from 11.9x).

Exits tell the real story

IPO and open-market exits jumped over 70%, trade exits over 60%. Large exits above $1 billion roughly quadrupled. Net distributions to LPs turned positive for the first time since 2021.

Greater China reclaimed top spot as the largest exit market, with exit volume up 76% year-on-year. South Korea's exits rose 38% despite political turmoil.

Sector shift: Tech fell to 25% of deal value, a 10-year low. Capital is flowing into advanced manufacturing (22%), energy (15%) and healthcare (14%) instead.
Dry powder: $240 billion sitting uninvested, down from a $315 billion peak in 2023.

What 2026 Looks Like

2020 to 2022 was the peak: low rates, high valuations, plenty of FOMO. Many GPs overpaid. Now, three to five years later, exits are due, and the math isn't working out for over a third of those deals.

Funds that bring their 2020-2022 investments to a clean exit now will get the next fundraise.

And the pipeline points to recovery: KKR (Asia V, $15 billion), EQT BPEA ($12.5 billion) and Blackstone (Asia III, $10 billion) are in market with mega-funds. Combined, the largest funds are targeting $61 billion.

Sources: SCMP, BusinessTimes, Bain