Evercore Private Funds Group was the most active placement agent in 2021, ranking first globally for number of funds closed between the start of the year and mid-December, according to Preqin Pro data.

Part of the New York-based independent investment banking advisory firm Evercore Inc., the Private Funds Group team worked on 17 funds that closed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 13. Among them was the $10.2 billion Genstar Capital Partners X LP, a middle-market buyout fund managed by San Francisco-based Genstar Capital LLC, which hit its hard cap and was oversubscribed by April, just four months after the fund's launch.

The aggregate value of the funds serviced by Evercore came to $27.8 billion, according to Preqin Pro. That is slightly less than the $27.86 billion aggregate value of the 14 funds closed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 13 with participation from No. 2 on Preqin's list, Lazard Ltd.'s Private Capital Advisory group.

Evercore and Lazard were also the most active placement agents globally at the year's midpoint, according to data previously provided by Preqin Pro.

In terms of aggregate final close size for all funds serviced year-to-date, no placement agent tops J.P. Morgan Securities. The group served as a placement agent on 10 funds that reached close between Jan. 1 and Dec. 13 with an aggregate final close size of $40.5 billion.

Jeff Eaton, global co-head of Eaton Partners LLC, said his firm had a strong 2021 despite the ongoing challenges posed by the pandemic, which limited in-person fundraising and shifted many meetings with potential investors onto Zoom and other video conferencing platforms. Preqin's data shows that Eaton this year through Dec. 13 served as a placement agent on nine funds with an aggregate final close size of $11.29 billion.

"We're going to end up having a great year. In the face of all those challenges, money is still flowing," Eaton said.

One surprising upside to pandemic-era fundraising is that it may be more efficient. Eaton said a typical fundraise in the past might involve in-person meetings with up to 200 individual investors and a lot of time on the road.

"Now we don't have to do that," Eaton said. "We can do 100, 150 Zoom calls, do five or six a day, and then only travel when we've got somebody on the hook and we're ready to close them."

Eaton said many limited partners were at first uncomfortable skipping face-to-face meetings with general partners but noted the "vast majority" have now made the transition. While in-person meetings are slowly starting to resume, video conferencing may remain a useful tool for placement agents, Eaton said.

"We'll see if all this new way of doing things stays in place," Eaton said.