Morningstar identified Amundi as its top stock pick for traditional European asset managers.
European private market firms’ fundraising slowed dramatically in 2025, as the valuation gap with traditional asset managers narrowed.
According to data from Morningstar and PitchBook, private equity fundraising in Europe hit a decade low in 2025 after a record high in 2024, dropping by 40% year-on-year.
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The absence of megafund closings – the successful finalisation of fundraising from firms over €5bn – was was a large contributor to drop, Morningstar explained. During 2024, around half of the total capital raised came from funds larger than €5bn, whereas in 2025 the largest fund closed was below that figure.
Johann Scholtz, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said 2025 "was a reality check for private markets", explaining that liquidity constraints limited exits and cash distributions, which have also closed the valuation gap with traditional asset managers to "reset expectations".
In the US, private equity fundraising also continued to decline, dropping 17% since 2024. Despite this, Scholtz argued that Morningstar envisages "valuations for private managers becoming more compelling into 2026".
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Active funds also made a slight comeback during 2025. While investors continued to flood passive strategies rather than active strategies, the renewed interest in active strategies suggested that investors became more selective last year with net inflows into active strategies during the year.
Morningstar consequently identified Amundi as its top stock pick for traditional European asset managers, while Partners Group was the top stock pick for private European asset managers.
