EQT Partners, a Sweden-based private equity firm, formally announced plans to IPO on the Nasdaq Stockholm.
Why it matters: It would be the largest European private equity firm listing in over two decades, and the first major global buyout firm listing since The Carlyle Group in 2012.
Details: EQT says it has around €40 billion in fee-paying AUM, spread over 19 active funds. It plans to raise at least €500 million via a 20% float, not including possible stock sales by insiders like the founding Wallenberg family.
The bottom line: This has been telegraphed for months, but it's still a bit surprising that EQT is going the IPO route. Many publicly-traded private equity firms have seen their stock prices stagnate, thus sparking a cottage industry of private stake sales.
