French buyout firm Astorg is struggling to raise sufficient capital for its latest flagship fund, highlighting ongoing strain across the European private equity fundraising market as investor caution increases and exit activity remains subdued, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The €24bn firm has yet to reach a first close on the fund launched in November 2025 and has not secured enough commitments to make the vehicle operational, according to people familiar with the process. The target size was reportedly at least €4bn, but investor participation from existing funds has been limited.
A key drag on fundraising has been the absence of a major portfolio exit. Investors have pointed to Astorg’s inability to sell one of its largest assets, IQ-EQ, a fund administration business acquired roughly a decade ago and previously expected to be sold for up to €9bn.
The slowdown comes amid broader concerns across private equity that weak distributions and a lack of realisations could lead to a wave of underperforming firms, with some industry executives warning that an increasing number of managers may become “zombie” fund houses focused only on managing legacy portfolios without raising new capital.
Astorg has defended its position, saying fundraising for the new fund is progressing in a “selective and competitive” environment and pointing to past successful exits, including the sale of Clario alongside Nordic Capital.
In a statement Astorg said: “Fundraising for our latest flagship, launched in November 2025, is progressing in what remains a selective and competitive market environment. As always, we are approaching the process in a disciplined and long-term manner, focused on alignment with our investors and the continued execution of our strategy.
“We continue to see strong investor engagement around our recent leadership and shareholding structure evolution, as well as our differentiated sector-specialist approach, creative dealmaking capabilities, increasingly institutionalised value creation platform, and track record of realisations and liquidity generation for investors”.
