The Firm
Founded for the long game. Built for the right ones.
Capital advisory and placement for private equity in Europe, the US and the Middle East
In chess, the opening move shapes the position, the tempo, the trajectory of everything that follows. The first LP in a fund. The first capital backing an independent sponsor. These are the moves that decide the game.
AZR Capital is European and Middle Eastern at its core. From this position we raise institutional capital for the private equity managers and fundless sponsors we represent, principally in buyout, with selective work in private credit, impact and private equity real estate.
We are small by design. We operate as a partnership. Our team is entrepreneurial, ambitious, personally invested. The managers we represent feel the difference from the first meeting.
Our investor base is concentrated in Europe and the GCC region, with an emerging presence in the US. Our allocator network has been built one relationship at a time, over more than two decades. That is the essence of our edge.
Since 2014
Independent & partner-owned
Seven
Languages on the team
Three
Offices: London, Switzerland, Middle East
A handful
Mandates at any one time
Reach
Two regions we own. One we open.
Institutional fundraising across Europe, the Gulf, and selectively the United States
Europe and the Middle East are our home. The United States is a destination we open for our GPs.
i. Europe
Long relationships. No distance.
Pension funds, insurers, fund-of-funds, family offices, private banks and endowments across the UK, France, the Nordics, Iberia, the DACH region and Benelux.
We speak the languages and we have covered the region for a long time.
ii. Middle East
From within the Gulf.
Sovereign wealth, family offices, private banks and institutional allocators across the GCC. Arabic-speaking. On the ground.
The Middle East is a capital-source region. The managers we represent are based in the United States and Europe; the LPs we introduce them to are here.
iii. North America
The door we open for our GPs.
Endowments, foundations and public pensions: the LPs European managers most want to reach. Activity with US investors is conducted in compliance with our broker-dealer licence.
A note from the founder
I founded AZR in 2014 with a simple conviction: capital advisory had become a volume business, and the best managers and the best investors were paying the price for it. Long client lists. Generic introductions. The wrong LPs in the wrong rooms.
I built AZR to do the opposite. We take on a handful of mandates each year. We know our LPs personally, in their language, in their region. We invest our fees and on occasion our capital alongside the managers we represent. And when the fund closes, the relationship continues.
Maya A.Z. Rodriguez
Founder & Managing Partner, AZR Capital
Principles
Four principles. One firm.
Our playbook and execution approach
Aligned interests.
Where we have conviction, we invest our own capital alongside the funds and deals we back. We also reinvest a portion of our fees. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our LPs, with inherent alignment.
Selective by design.
A small number of mandates at any time. Fewer clients, closer relationships, sharper execution. The discipline is the product.
Hungry by nature.
Entrepreneurs run this firm. We treat each manager’s raise as our own business, because that is how we believe meaningful fundraises get done.
Enduring relationships.
Mandates are transitory. Relationships are enduring. Our managers and our investors feel that distinction in year five as plainly as in year one.
Solutions
Three disciplines.
Capital advisory · Dedicated independent sponsor franchise · Secondaries
01 / Capital Advisory
Capital advisory and placement.
We raise institutional capital for the private equity managers and fundless sponsors we represent, principally in buyout, with selective work in private credit, impact and private equity real estate. Our placement activity covers Europe and the Middle East, with selective access to United States institutional investors for our European GPs.
We syndicate overflow co-investment to aligned institutional capital, extending the reach of a transaction without disturbing fund economics.
We can also act as a regional partner for our clients, including through joint mandates with complementary advisors.
02 / Independent Sponsors
Global capital for independent sponsors.
We were among the earliest groups in Europe to support and intermediate independent sponsors as a distinct segment, and have cultivated a strong network of allocators over several years. We raise deal equity, structure programmatic capital, and also assist proven sponsors who wish to transition into an institutional fund format.
Narrower investor universe. Sharper timelines. Different diligence. We know where the capital sits – this is a market we actively helped create in Europe.
03 / Secondaries
On both sides.
Working alongside managers, investors and shareholders gives a complete view of where value is made and where it is released. We advise and intermediate where alignment, discretion and institutional knowledge matter more than process.
- GP-ledContinuation vehicles, fund restructurings and managed liquidity, structured for the long-term interests of the franchise.
- LP-ledDiscreet execution for investors seeking portfolio liquidity or rebalancing.
- Direct & single-assetBespoke transactions on individual positions, where pricing, structure and counterparty fit are decisive.
Independent Sponsors
We arrived early.
Independent sponsor capital advisory in Europe and the Middle East – deal equity, programmatic capital, sponsor-to-fund
AZR built one of the first capital advisory franchises in Europe dedicated to independent sponsors. We know the model from the inside.
We back sponsors at every stage. The first platform acquisition. The repeatable programme. The graduation from deal-by-deal to a first institutional fund, when the track record demands it.
The investor universe for independent sponsors is narrower, the timelines tighter, the diligence different. We know where that capital sits, and we know how to reach it.
Approach
Our execution playbook.
I. Conviction
We start with the manager.
Long diligence on the team, the strategy, the portfolio. We take on what we are willing to defend in front of any LP.
II. Craft
We position with precision.
Materials, narrative and introductions, prepared with the same rigour the LPs will use to evaluate them.
III. Continuity
Our reputation arrives first.
A sommelier earns trust through what past guests say about the recommendations they received, not through what the sommelier says about themselves. Every GP we have represented is a reference. Our reputation is their verdict, accumulated over time.
A boutique practice, built with intent.
Impactful. Entrepreneurial. Personally invested in every mandate.
Twenty years in global asset management. Maya partners with leading alternative investment managers and institutional investors across EMEA and beyond.
Founder and Managing Partner of AZR Capital. The firm raises capital for the GPs it represents, and shapes how those managers go to market: investment narrative, positioning, the messaging that resonates with the LPs who matter. Europe and the Middle East are home.
AZR was among the first European platforms to back and intermediate independent sponsors, a segment that remains a defining part of its franchise.
Alongside the advisory business, Maya oversees AZR's investment activities, backing nimble, high-quality managers with differentiated strategies and the ability to generate niche, uncorrelated alpha.
Ron covers AZR Capital's DACH, UK&I and Eastern European investor relationships, and supports manager positioning and execution across active mandates.
Joined AZR Capital in 2026 from the Private Funds Group at Evercore. Previously, Ron was an Associate at Kirkland & Ellis with a broad practice within legal advisory, including fundraising, secondary transactions and carry / co-invest structuring and implementation.
Ben covers AZR's European and Nordic investor relationships and supports manager positioning and execution across the firm's active mandates.
Joined AZR in 2022 from Orbit Partners, where he was an Associate on the BFSI team covering Tier-1 equity investors globally. Distinction Master of Economics, University of Exeter.
Vincent leads GP origination and mandate project management at AZR Capital. He manages the qualification of new mandates, first contact with GPs and independent sponsors, and the day-to-day execution of active fundraising processes.
Prior to joining AZR Capital in 2025, Vincent worked at Quest Fund Placement and within J.P. Morgan's Equity Capital Markets team covering Northern Europe.
Responsibility
To whom much is given, much is expected. We take the obligation seriously, and we structure our firm so that giving back is not an afterthought.
AZR backs a small group of charities where unrestricted donations make a material difference. We fund operations, not campaigns.
Direct contributions from the firm and its partners are the foundation. The Volatility Investing series, founded by Maya Rodriguez, is one further channel; it has raised significant sums for charity over the last decade.
VimbaWoman’s TrustVision for a NationBeanstalk
The game is long. The move is patient.
The right manager. Represented the right way. To the right investors.
Contact
A conversation, first.
General Enquiries
We speak across a broad universe of managers and investors each year. Direct introductions are welcome.
Offices
London
Switzerland
Middle East