Apax XI

Overview

Apax XI is the eleventh flagship global buyout fund raised by Apax Partners LLP. CORRECTION to first pass: the fund's legal structure is broader than "two USD + two EUR partnerships" — a 2024 SEC filing (Thoughtworks merger proxy) names six co-investing Apax XI vehicles: Apax XI USD L.P., Apax XI USD 2 L.P., APAX XI USD SCSp (USD side) and Apax XI EUR L.P., Apax XI EUR 1 L.P., APAX XI EUR SCSp (EUR side), domiciled in Guernsey/Luxembourg. Apax announced final close on 31 March 2024 with total capital commitments exceeding $12 billion (Apax's own fund-size disclosure states US$11,998 million, converting EUR commitments to USD at the FX rate prevailing at close). Reporting on the target is more corroborated than the first pass indicated: Bloomberg (22 Sept 2022) reported Apax had raised over $10 billion in five months toward a $13 billion target (~75% at first close), and Private Equity International/Unquote both describe the eventual final close as "just short of" that $13bn target — still not an Apax-primary confirmed target figure, but now cross-corroborated by a second, more contemporaneous outlet (Bloomberg) rather than only secondary trade press. VINTAGE YEAR FLAG: first pass listed vintage year 2023; SEC registration was filed February 2022 and Apax's first close (~$10bn, ~75% of target) had occurred by September 2022 per Bloomberg — this points to a 2022 vintage (fundraising-commencement/first-close convention) rather than 2023. Data providers differ on whether "vintage" = first-close year or final-close year, so this is flagged as a likely correction rather than an outright error; could not access a paywalled PitchBook/Preqin vintage-year field to settle it definitively. The fund was marketed in 2022 as successor to Apax X ($11bn, final close January 2021, exceeding its $10.5bn target). Apax XI continues the firm's sector-focused strategy — Tech, Services, Healthcare, Internet/Consumer — applying sub-sector "playbooks" plus Apax's in-house Operational Excellence Team; predecessor-fund guidance indicated ~35-50% Europe/North America and 10-25% rest-of-world. At final close, Apax disclosed the fund was already ~15% committed across five investments, three of which were corporate carveouts (including one day-one combination of two businesses). Verified/confirmed Apax XI transactions (fund-level attribution confirmed by name in primary sources): WGSN (consumer trend forecaster, acquired from Ascential plc, closed 1 Feb 2024); Veriforce (supply-chain risk-management software, controlling stake acquired from Thoma Bravo, announced 28-29 Aug 2024, with listed co-investment vehicle Apax Global Alpha committing ~€29m/£24.4m alongside the fund); Thoughtworks (NASDAQ-listed IT consultancy taken private for $4.40/share, ~$1.75bn enterprise value — the merger's equity commitment letter dated 5 Aug 2024 names all six Apax XI entities above as jointly and severally providing $600 million of equity financing; deal closed 13 Nov 2024); and Norva24 (Nordic underground-infrastructure-maintenance services group, Sweden-listed — Apax Global Alpha's own disclosure explicitly states the investment (~€14m look-through) was made "via Apax XI," with the Apax XI-led public offer completing on 7 May 2025 for 98.32% of shares). Additional 2025 Apax deals reported in press (CohnReznick strategic growth investment, Feb 2025; Foods Connected, ~€4.5m Apax Global Alpha co-investment expected) are attributed only to "Apax Funds" generically in the sources found — NOT confirmed as Apax XI specifically, so not counted as verified Apax XI investments. Some other names surfacing in aggregator data (e.g. DLRdmv) were explicitly attributed to a DIFFERENT Apax vehicle (Apax Digital Fund II), not Apax XI — flagging this so it is not miscounted as an Apax XI deal. Disclosed LP base: CalSTRS ($150m to Apax XI USD, L.P., per CalSTRS PE portfolio disclosure) and, newly found this pass, Minnesota State Board of Investment ($100 million commitment to Apax XI, appearing consistently across MSBI quarterly Private Markets Asset Listing PDFs from 2022 through 2025). Apax's own release otherwise describes the LP base generically (mix of new/returning public/private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, funds of funds, insurers, endowments, foundations) without naming further individual investors.

Key Facts

Fund type

Private Equity

Vintage year

2023

Strategy

Multi-currency buyout

Managed by

Apax Partners Llp

Fund size

USD 12.0B