PEI Awards 2016: KKR, EQT among multi-award winners

The honour roll of this year’s PEI Awards is littered with multi-award winning franchises.

KKR won in four categories in Asia, while Ardian, EQT, HarbourVest, Mid Europa Partners and Permira were all recognised in three categories across EMEA and the Americas.

KKR’s Asian domination was confirmed when it picked up the awards for Large-Cap Firm, Exit, Deal and Firm of the Year in South-East Asia. It was a year of milestones for the firm, which reshuffled its investment teams in China, South Korea and South-East Asia and, appropriately enough, is currently preparing to raise a $7 billion fund that would be the largest ever to target the region.

HarbourVest capped off a strong 2016 by being recognised as Fund of Funds Manager of the Year in Europe, Firm of the Year in Canada and being awarded Secondaries Deal of the Year in Europe for its hostile takeover bid for London-listed SVG Capital.

Blackstone reasserted its position as Large-Cap Firm of the Year in North America, after a year in which it was crowned the world’s largest firm by capital raised in the PEI 300.

EQT cemented its position as a leader among the next generation of industry giants, being recognised as Large-Cap Firm of the Year in Europe, lender of the year in Europe through its EQT Credit platform and firm of the year in its home region, the Nordics.

Ardian, a firm that dominated last year’s awards, was again among the multi-award winners. It was crowned Firm of the Year in France, Mid-Market Firm of the Year in Europe and was awarded Secondaries Deal of the Year in North America for its acquisition of around $1 billion in private equity interests from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Mid Europa Partners, a stalwart of central and eastern European private equity, scooped two awards for its landmark acquisition of Polish online shopping platform Allegro, one of 2016’s largest transactions in the EMEA region. The firm was also crowned Firm of the Year in CEE. Permira, a co-investor in the Allegro deal, was also recognised for its sale of $1.5 billion sale of Intelligrated in the North American Exit of the Year category.

Two law firms vied for global dominance – Clifford Chance and Kirkland & Ellis both walked away with four awards each – while advisory firms Campbell Lutyens, Evercore and Eaton Partners all picked up multiple awards.

Click here to read our full coverage, which details which fund managers, investors, advisors and transactions won.

Alternatively, click here to read the list of Americas winners; click here to read the list of winners in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and here to view all winners in Asia.