Directory · London large-cap
The largest private equity firms in London
28 large-cap and global buyout firms with a London office, listed alphabetically.
We do not rank them by size or publish assets under management: each entry links to the firm’s own website.
Firms are included because their own sites describe large-cap or upper mid-market buyouts, or deals of a size that fits that description.
- 28 firms
- London offices
- Unranked, alphabetical
- Checked October 2026
Who are you hiring?
Deal team and partner hires for buyout, growth and credit funds.
See how we search →Permanent CFOs for PE-backed businesses, with fractional and interim options.
See how we search →Operating partners and value creation leads for a fund or a portfolio.
See how we search →COO, CFO, risk, compliance and investor relations for hedge funds.
See how we search →Retained search for finance directors, COOs and NEDs.
See how we search →01/ directory
Large-cap firms in London, A to Z
Filter by how each firm describes its deals, or search by name or sector.
Showing 28 of 28 · listed alphabetically, not ranked
Listed alphabetically, not ranked.
Each focus line is our summary of the firm’s own website, checked in October 2026, and an equity ticket appears only where the firm’s site states one, linked to that page.
Some firms headquartered elsewhere are listed with their London office.
We do not publish assets under management.
Spot an error?
Email hello@fractional.quest.
02/ reading the list
How private equity firms differ
The firms in a directory do different things.
Pick a strategy to see what sets it apart.
CONTROL · LARGE DEALS
Large-cap buyout
Large-cap firms buy control of big companies, often with significant debt, and many run several strategies from offices around the world.
Their London teams usually cover European deals.
CONTROL · MID-SIZED DEALS
Mid-market buyout
Mid-market firms buy majority or significant minority stakes in established, profitable businesses.
Many state the equity ticket or company size they target on their own websites.
SMALLER COMPANIES
Lower mid-market and small-cap
Smaller firms back owner-managed and founder-led businesses, often in the company’s first deal with a private equity investor.
MINORITY · GROWTH
Growth equity
Growth investors take minority stakes in fast-growing companies, often in software and technology, with less or no debt.
DEBT · REAL ASSETS
Private credit, infrastructure and real estate
Many managers also run private credit, infrastructure or real estate strategies, which lend to or own assets rather than buy companies.
03/ working there
Roles at a large-cap firm
Large firms hire across more teams than a single deal team.
Which sounds like you?
Deal teams organised by sector or region, from associate to partner.
Operating partners, portfolio operations and talent teams that work with the companies the firm owns.
Teams that raise and report to investors across the firm’s funds.
- → Placement agents and in-house IR
Fund finance, tax, legal and regulatory teams, many in roles covered by the FCA Senior Managers and Certification Regime.
04/ the market
UK private equity in figures
Published figures from UK Private Capital, the industry body formerly called the BVCA.
Each links to the page it comes from.
Figures as published by UK Private Capital, checked on 6 October 2026.
05/ guide
Large-cap private equity in London
London is home to the European offices of many global buyout firms, as well as UK-headquartered large-cap managers.
Regulation
Most UK private equity managers are alternative investment fund managers authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the UK AIFMD regime.
You can check a manager’s status on the FCA Financial Services Register, and the FCA has published a review of private market valuation practices.
Checking a company
Ownership, directors and charges for a UK portfolio company are public at Companies House.
Tax
HMRC has published a revised tax regime for carried interest, which affects how UK investment professionals are paid.
More firms
UK Private Capital publishes a member directory of its member firms.
06/ questions
Questions, answered
No.
Firms are listed alphabetically, with a short description of each firm’s focus from its own website and a link to that site.
We do not rank firms or publish assets under management.
We included firms whose own websites show an active private equity investment strategy and a UK office, and dropped any whose site we could not open or which say they have stopped investing.
Only from the firm’s own website, and each one links to the page where the firm states it.
Where a firm does not publish a ticket, we leave it out.
Yes.
Rainmakrr runs private equity executive search for funds and portfolio companies.
We do not rank firms by size, because assets under management are measured and reported in different ways.
Each firm’s own site is linked so you can see how it describes itself.
Yes: see small private equity firms in London and the full UK directory.
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Tell us the seat, the fund or company, and the timing. We set out how we would run the search.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the search
- 03A written search plan after the call
- 04Permanent, interim and fractional briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
07/ sources
Sources and further reading
Primary sources for the rules and figures on this page.