Switzerland is better known for managing liquid wealth than for owning companies. Yet a compact and unusually international private equity industry has grown up around Zug, Zurich, Pfäffikon and Geneva — from one of the world’s largest private markets managers down to specialist buy-and-build shops running succession deals for Swiss family businesses. This is the list, with what each firm actually does.
Everything below was verified against the firms’ own published material in August 2026. Figures mix firm-wide and private-equity-only assets, because that is how the firms report them; treat them as orders of magnitude, not audited numbers.
The large private markets platforms
| Firm | Base | Founded | Focus | AUM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partners Group | Baar | 1996 | Global private markets: PE, infrastructure, real estate, private credit, royalties | ~USD 186bn |
| LGT Capital Partners | Pfäffikon SZ | 1997 | PE primaries, secondaries and co-investments; liquid alternatives | USD 80bn+ |
| Amundi Alpha Associates | Zurich | 2004 | Private markets multi-manager; acquired by Amundi in 2024, still Zurich-based | ~EUR 8.5bn |
| Unigestion | Geneva | 1971 | Private equity direct, secondaries and funds, alongside equities | n/a (PE portion not disclosed) |
A note on LGT Capital Partners: the firm is headquartered in Schwyz, while the wider LGT Group is owned by the princely family of Liechtenstein. It appears on Swiss lists for good reason, but the ownership sits across the border.
Mid-market buyout and growth
| Firm | Base | Founded | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capvis | Baar | 1990 | DACH and European mid-market buyouts: industrial technology, healthcare, software |
| Ufenau Capital Partners | Pfäffikon SZ | 2011 | Majority stakes in service businesses across DACH, Iberia, Poland, Benelux and the UK; buy-and-build. Fund VIII closed at EUR 2.1bn in 2025 |
| Invision | Zug | 1997 | SME succession solutions and growth financing in German-speaking Europe; 60+ investments |
| CGS Management | Pfäffikon SZ | 1995 | Industrial buy-and-build across small and mid-sized European companies |
| Cross Equity Partners | Pfäffikon SZ | 2006 | Swiss and DACH mid-market: engineering, machinery, industrial products; succession and corporate spin-offs |
| Evoco | Zurich | 2012 | Lower mid-market Western Europe, often via portfolio transactions and special situations; EUR 300m+ committed |
| Helvetica Capital | Zurich | 2010 | Evergreen entrepreneur-investor platform; majority stakes in established Swiss SMEs from around CHF 4m EBITDA |
| Capital Transmission | Geneva | 2008 | Swiss SME growth capital and succession financing, tickets of CHF 2–15m; a subsidiary of Banque Cantonale de Genève |
Specialists: secondaries, healthcare, impact, co-investment
| Firm | Base | Founded | Focus | AUM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montana Capital Partners | Baar | 2011 | Private equity secondaries in the European and North American mid-market; acquired by PGIM in 2021 | ~EUR 2.7bn at acquisition |
| HBM Healthcare Investments | Zug | 2001 | Listed investment company: private and public biotech, medtech, diagnostics, digital health | NAV ~CHF 1.7bn |
| Blue Earth Capital | Baar | 2015 | Global impact investing across PE, credit and funds; incubated by Partners Group | ~USD 1.9bn |
| ACE & Company | Geneva | ~2005 | Global co-investment and venture, entrepreneur-backed deals | USD 2bn+ |
| Petiole Asset Management | Zurich | ~2004 | Private markets access platform: PE co-investments, private debt, real estate | USD 2.3bn+ |
| Patrimonium Asset Management | Zurich / Lausanne / Baar | 2007 | Swiss private markets: real estate, private credit, infrastructure and private equity since 2017 | ~CHF 5.5bn (group) |
Firms often listed as Swiss that are not
Lists of “Swiss private equity firms” circulate widely and are frequently out of date. Four common entries we excluded:
- Adveq (Zurich) — acquired by Schroders in 2017 and now Schroders Capital, headquartered in London.
- Akina Partners (Zurich) — merged into Unigestion in 2017; no longer exists as a separate firm.
- Zurmont Madison (Zurich) — the fund was sold in a secondary transaction and the team absorbed by Patrimonium in 2016.
- ArchiMed — appears on several Swiss rankings but is headquartered in Lyon, France.
We also left out dedicated venture firms such as Redalpine, Lakestar and Emerald, on the grounds that venture is a different asset class with a different risk profile — worth a separate list.
What this means for a private investor
Two practical observations. First, access is the binding constraint, not availability: most of the firms above raise from institutions, and a private client typically reaches them through a feeder structure, a co-investment platform or a wealth manager with an established allocation. Second, private equity’s illiquidity premium is not free — it is compensation for a lock-up of eight to twelve years, valuation opacity and a return dispersion between managers that dwarfs anything in public markets.
Which is why the allocation question comes before the manager question. Our overview of private equity in Swiss wealth management covers structures and access routes, and open architecture explains why the ability to buy any manager — rather than your bank’s — matters more in private markets than anywhere else. For portfolio context alongside liquid holdings, see the 2026 investment outlook.
If you are weighing whether private markets belong in your allocation at all, that is a mandate design question — start with discretionary versus advisory and the cost analysis in private banking fees, since PE fee layers sit on top of everything you already pay.
FAQ
How much do you need to invest in Swiss private equity?
Direct fund commitments typically start at EUR 1–10 million for institutional share classes. Feeder and platform structures bring the entry point down to roughly CHF 100,000–250,000, at the cost of an additional fee layer.
Is Switzerland a good domicile for private equity funds?
Managers are frequently Swiss; the funds themselves are usually domiciled in Luxembourg, Guernsey or Jersey for investor-familiarity and distribution reasons. Switzerland’s L-QIF regime, live since 2024, was designed to change that for qualified investors.
How reliable are AUM figures for private equity firms?
Less than you would hope. Firms report on different bases — committed capital, invested capital, or assets under management including advisory — and rarely define which. Treat all such figures, including the ones above, as approximations.
General information, not investment advice, and not a recommendation of any firm listed. Private equity is illiquid and carries risk of total loss. Details verified August 2026 and subject to change.
