US advisers that report private equity funds on SEC Form ADV: fields, counts and prices by state.
Private equity firms in Chicago
~140 SEC-registered and exempt reporting advisers that report private equity funds have a Chicago main office, in the SEC's Form ADV file of 2026-10-02. Only New York City has more. Illinois as a whole has ~170, so most of the state's advisers of this kind are in the city itself. The table lists the 25 largest focused advisers in Chicago, ranked by the gross assets of the private funds the adviser reports, not fund size or assets raised.
~140 SEC-registered and exempt reporting advisers that report private equity funds have a Chicago main office (SEC Form ADV, file of 2026-10-02).
~140Illinois has ~170 of these advisers and ranks number 5 among the states and DC.
~170Thoma Bravo leads the Chicago table and ranks third in the national top 100 by gross private-fund assets.
3rd in the USThe 25 largest private equity advisers in Chicago
| Adviser | Main office | Gross private-fund assets | PE funds reported | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Thoma Bravo | Chicago, IL | $182.9 billion | 146 PE funds of 151 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 2. GCM Grosvenor L.P. | Chicago, IL | $79.7 billion | 147 PE funds of 261 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 3. BDT Capital Partners | Chicago, IL | $75.4 billion | 45 PE funds of 45 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 4. Valor Equity Partners | Chicago, IL | $63.5 billion | 53 PE funds of 54 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 5. Adams Street Partners, LLC | Chicago, IL | $60.6 billion | 326 PE funds of 327 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 6. GTCR LLC | Chicago, IL | $48.6 billion | 55 PE funds of 55 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 7. 50 South Capital Advisors, LLC | Chicago, IL | $26.7 billion | 114 PE funds of 126 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 8. Madison Dearborn Partners | Chicago, IL | $21.5 billion | 57 PE funds of 57 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 9. The Vistria Group, LP | Chicago, IL | $14 billion | 12 PE funds of 17 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 10. Linden Capital Partners | Chicago, IL | $13.9 billion | 28 PE funds of 28 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 11. Partners Enterprise Capital LLC | Chicago, IL | $13.5 billion | 2 PE funds of 2 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 12. Evergreen Investment Advisors | Chicago, IL | $11.6 billion | 3 PE funds of 3 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 13. Shore Capital Partners | Chicago, IL | $9.3 billion | 48 PE funds of 48 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 14. Wind Point Partners | Chicago, IL | $8.6 billion | 15 PE funds of 15 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 15. Chicago Pacific Founders | Chicago, IL | $7.8 billion | 32 PE funds of 32 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 16. Water Street Healthcare Partners, LLC | Chicago, IL | $7.5 billion | 16 PE funds of 16 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 17. PPC | Chicago, IL | $7.2 billion | 9 PE funds of 9 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 18. G Squared Equity Management LP | Chicago, IL | $6.6 billion | 16 PE funds of 16 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 19. Twin Bridge Capital Partners, LLC | Chicago, IL | $5 billion | 9 PE funds of 9 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 20. Waud Capital Partners | Chicago, IL | $4.7 billion | 24 PE funds of 24 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 21. Mesirow Financial Private Equity Advisors, Inc. | Chicago, IL | $4.7 billion | 16 PE funds of 18 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 22. Cressey & Company LP | Chicago, IL | $3.5 billion | 12 PE funds of 12 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 23. Victory Park Capital | Chicago, IL | $3.4 billion | 25 PE funds of 26 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 24. Burford Capital Investment Management LLC | Chicago, IL | $3.2 billion | 12 PE funds of 12 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
| 25. WP Global Partners LLC | Chicago, IL | $3 billion | 34 PE funds of 37 private funds | adviserinfo.sec.gov |
The evidence link in each row opens that adviser's Form ADV record on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site. A Chicago firm that files under more than one adviser would get more than one row.
Being listed is not an endorsement, and none of these firms is connected to nodilist.
How the Chicago table is built
- Chicago only. Main offices whose city is filed on Form ADV as Chicago, state Illinois. Suburban offices in Evanston, Lake Forest, Northbrook or Oak Brook are counted under those towns, so they are not in the count or the table.
- Every adviser in the count, focused ones in the table. The city count includes any adviser that reports a private equity fund. The table keeps advisers whose private equity funds are at least half of the private funds they report.
- Order. By the exact filed gross private-fund assets, with suspect filings and residence-flagged offices left out. The national ranking gives the full method.
How Chicago's private equity firms compare
Chicago's table falls off quickly. Thoma Bravo leads it and ranks third in the whole country. The next seven rows, from GCM Grosvenor to Madison Dearborn Partners, are also in the national top 100. From The Vistria Group down, no Chicago firm reaches the national table, and the 25th Chicago row reports less than a fifth of the gross private-fund assets of the 100th national row.
More of the Chicago firms stick to private equity. Most of the 25 report only private equity funds, compared with fewer than half in the New York table. The exceptions include GCM Grosvenor, which reports a large share of other private funds beside its private equity funds.
Fund counts and names point to three other features, though we can only infer them from counts, names and one firm's own description:
- Fund-of-funds managers. Adams Street Partners reports more private equity funds than any other Chicago firm and describes primary, secondary and co-investment strategies. Managers that invest in other funds report the gross assets of those stakes, which lifts them in any ranking of this kind.
- A few large vehicles. Partners Enterprise Capital and Evergreen Investment Advisors report only two and three private funds and still rank in the top 12.
- Sector specialists. Water Street Healthcare Partners names its sector. Form ADV does not record a fund's industry focus, so the table can't show which other firms specialize.
What the Chicago ranking doesn't show
- Suburban firms. Advisers with a main office outside the city limits, as filed, are not here.
- Chicago teams of firms based elsewhere. Form ADV records one main office per adviser.
- Fund size, capital raised, deal count or returns. The measure sums the gross assets of all the adviser's private funds, including uncalled commitments.
- A city total. We don't add up the table, because the same assets can be reported by a fund of funds and by the funds it holds.
Looking for the private equity firm list?
The private equity firm list has one row per adviser that reports a private equity fund, including the smaller Chicago and Illinois firms outside this table. Its page shows the counts by state, and you can order the Illinois file or the whole country there.
Private equity firm listSources
- SEC, Information About Registered Investment Advisers and Exempt Reporting Advisers, Form ADV data files ia100226.zip and ia100226-exempt.zip (file of 2026-10-02), https://www.sec.gov/data-research/sec-markets-data/information-about-registered-investment-advisers-exempt-reporting-advisers (accessed 2026-10-04)
- SEC, Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, firm summary pages (one per ranked adviser, linked by CRD number in the table), https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/ (accessed 2026-10-04)
- SEC, Form ADV Part 1A, Item 7.B and Schedule D Section 7.B.(1), https://www.sec.gov/about/forms/formadv-part1a.pdf (accessed 2026-10-04)
- Adams Street Partners, home page, https://www.adamsstreetpartners.com/ (accessed 2026-10-04)