According to an updated 2013 ranking created by industry magazine Private Equity International[80] (published by PEI Media called the PEI 300), the largest private equity firm in the world today is TPG, based on the amount of private equity direct-investment capital raised over a five-year window. As ranked by the PEI 300, the 10 largest private equity firms in the world are:

TPG Capital

The Carlyle Group

The Blackstone Group

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts

Warburg Pincus

Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area

Advent International

Apollo Global Management

Bain Capital

CVC Capital Partners

Because private equity firms are continuously in the process of raising, investing and distributing their private equity funds, capital raised can often be the easiest to measure. Other metrics can include the total value of companies purchased by a firm or an estimate of the size of a firm's active portfolio plus capital available for new investments. As with any list that focuses on size, the list does not provide any indication as to relative investment performance of these funds or managers.

Additionally, Preqin (formerly known as Private Equity Intelligence), an independent data provider, ranks the 25 largest private equity investment managers.Among the larger firms in that ranking were AlpInvest Partners, Ardian (formerly AXA Private Equity), AIG Investments, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. The European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA) publishes a yearbook which analyses industry trends derived from data disclosed by over 1, 300 European private equity funds. Finally, websites such as AskIvy.net[81] provide lists of London-based private equity firms.