Navigated Menu Back Financial Times Financial Times Europe 3 Nov 2025 Buttons.Search Options Private capital zombie firms will proliferate, says EQT chief ▸ Franzén warns on industry outlook ▸ Lack of fundraising threatens many ALEXANDRA HEAL — LONDON Settings Print Share Listen Eighty per cent of all private capital groups could be zombie firms within the next decade, according to one of the industry’s most senior executives, surviving only to manage existing investments because they cannot raise fresh capital. Only about 5,000 of the 15,000 or more private capital firms that exist today have successfully raised funds in the past seven years, Per Franzén, chief executive of Sweden’s EQT, told the Financial Times. “How many of these firms will have a successful fundraising also in the next five to 10 years? . . . Probably less than half,” he said. “The number of zombie firms will increase by an additional couple of thousand.” Private equity gr...