Bridgepoint Group (LON:BPT) reported what management described as another “impressive year” in 2025, pointing to strong fund performance, continued fundraising momentum and financial results that exceeded market expectations. Chief Executive Raoul Hughes and CFO Ruth Keohane also highlighted recent strategic initiatives, including expansion into private markets secondaries and the launch of a dedicated wealth product.
2025 results: AUM growth and margin performance
Hughes said Bridgepoint “beat market expectations across FRE, PRE and EBITDA,” while noting that assets under management (AUM) increased 24% in U.S. dollar terms. Keohane provided more detail, reporting that AUM rose 25% to $94.1 billion at year-end 2025, driven by fundraising, divestments, valuation gains and a favorable foreign exchange impact.
On the income statement, Keohane said management fees grew 13% year-over-year excluding catch-up fees in both 2024 and 2025, while underlying EBITDA was £305 million, representing a 53% margin. The margin was the second consecutive year above 50% and within Bridgepoint’s stated 52% to 55% range.
Fundraising progress and targets
Bridgepoint reiterated confidence in its fundraising target of €24 billion by the end of 2026. Hughes reminded listeners the group had previously upgraded its guidance from €20 billion to €24 billion by end-2026 and said he remained confident in reaching the higher target.
Keohane said Bridgepoint raised €8 billion in 2025 and, combined with €6 billion raised in 2024, had raised €14 billion toward the €24 billion goal. She added that the company was “confident of delivering the remaining €10 billion.”
Management also described improved momentum in key products. For example, BE VIII commitments closed or investment committee-approved totaled €5.4 billion, with a formal first close expected in Q2 and fee-paying status expected in mid-2026. In infrastructure, ECP VI had raised $3.7 billion of commitments by year-end versus a $5 billion “cover number” and a $7.5 billion hard cap, and Bridgepoint now expects ECP VI to conclude fundraising by the end of 2026 rather than keeping it open into the first half of 2027.
Hughes highlighted changing mix within fundraising, saying more than 30% of capital raised so far in ECP6 and BE8 came from investors new to that vertical or new to Bridgepoint, and that returning limited partners (LPs) were increasing commitments, averaging around a 20% increase in BE8 to date.
Deployment, realizations, and Calpine
Bridgepoint reported continued capital deployment and realizations. Hughes said the firm deployed €7.8 billion in 2025 and returned €8.1 billion to fund investors, following €8.5 billion returned in 2024. Keohane said this brought total capital returned over the last two years to €16.6 billion, noting the Calpine transaction closed in January 2026 and therefore was not included in the 2025 return figure.
Management cited several exits. Hughes described private equity realizations including “a standout return for Brevo” and “a great result for Ramsay.” In infrastructure, he pointed to Symmetry (over a 6x money multiple) and Cornerstone (4.4x after one year of ownership). Keohane later added that Cornerstone exited in Q1 2026.
Calpine was a central topic, with Hughes referencing The Wall Street Journal’s characterization of it as “likely the most profitable private equity deal ever.” Keohane said that upon completion, $4.5 billion of cash consideration was paid and 50 million Constellation Energy shares were received, which were worth $17 billion at the time based on a $338 share price. She said the funds had already received and distributed the cash element of consideration, and that the shares are subject to lockups: 50% until the end of June 2026 and 50% until the end of June 2027.
Keohane said around $12 million of further PRE was recognized upon initial receipt of cash in January, and that recognition of remaining PRE would depend on the timing of Constellation share sales. She said that selling the shares underpinned Bridgepoint’s confidence in delivering PRE guidance in 2026 and 2027, while emphasizing the company would sell “when it is right to do so” rather than immediately after lockups expire. As an illustration, she said if Constellation shares were sold at $300 per share, total cash received by the group from carry and co-investment would be more than $150 million.
Portfolio positioning and risk discussion
Addressing geopolitical and market volatility, Hughes said Bridgepoint’s portfolio had “tiny” aggregated revenue exposure to the Middle East, while capital managed from the region represented 9% of total AUM, and the firm continued to close new commitments from the region.
He also discussed sector and structure considerations:
- Software exposure: Hughes said software represented 7% of AUM and was focused on “mission-critical, high growth, recurring revenue platforms” rather than higher-multiple early-stage assets; he noted four software assets in the two most recent flagship private equity funds, with revenue growth over 20% per annum.
- Fund structures: He said Bridgepoint has “almost no exposure to open-ended funds,” emphasizing locked-up, long-dated capital and lack of redemption risk.
- Credit performance: Hughes said the annualized default rate across direct lending since 2015 was 0.1%, compared with a net unlevered IRR of 9%, and that watch list levels remained within the normal long-term range.
- CLOs: He said CLO 10 was successfully priced recently and the broader portfolio had little exposure to cyclical consumer and energy-dependent names.
Hughes also said the firm’s energy transition infrastructure business was positioned to benefit from AI-driven electricity demand growth, with long-term contracts and without exposure to “significant AI CapEx obligations.”
Platform strategy: secondaries and wealth channel
Bridgepoint outlined progress on diversification. Hughes said the firm entered secondaries through the addition of a Newbury team, describing it as a cost-efficient way to expand into what he called a fast-growing private markets segment. The 14-person team joined last month and is focused on small to mid-size LP-led and GP-led secondary transactions where the market is “less competitive and less efficient.” Hughes said Bridgepoint would receive a share of fees sufficient to cover the team’s cost, and Keohane said the strategy is expected to be breakeven for the first two years.
In Q&A, Hughes said the intention was to plug Newbury into Bridgepoint’s global sales force and also into its Bridgepoint Generations product, though he cautioned that it would be “over optimistic” to assume Newbury’s next fundraising would immediately return to the “couple of billion-dollar” scale of prior funds.
On the wealth channel, Hughes said Bridgepoint launched its first dedicated wealth product, Bridgepoint Generations, in October. He said the firm had signed five distribution agreements across the UK, France, Spain, Germany, and the Middle East, with more expected.
Keohane also discussed capital allocation priorities, reiterating support for organic growth, GP commitments and seeding strategies, inorganic growth, and then shareholder returns. She said Bridgepoint expected to return £95 million to shareholders in the 2025 financial year through dividends and buybacks. She added that the firm is “at the start of a period of significant cash generation,” pointing to an estimated £1.1 billion of co-investments and carry value on the balance sheet at December 2025 valuations (before expected additional value from portfolio maturation and future vintages).
Looking ahead, Keohane guided to consistent revenue growth of 13% to 16% through the next cycle, with expenses growing at a high single-digit percentage annually. She said Bridgepoint expects PRE to be 20% to 25% of total income in 2026 and 2027, and expects an EBITDA margin of 55% to 60% on conclusion of the current fundraising cycle.
About Bridgepoint Group (LON:BPT)
Bridgepoint Group plc is a private equity and private credit firm specializing in middle market, small mid cap, small cap, growth capital, buyouts investments, syndicate debt, infrastructure, direct lending and credit opportunities in private credit investments. It prefers to invest in advanced industrials, automation, agricultural sciences, energy transition enablers, business services, financial services, professional services, testing inspection and certification, information services, consumer, digital brands, video games, wellbeing products, health care, pharma and MedTech outsourced services, pharma products, and MedTech Products sectors.
