French buyout firm PAI Partners has reached a first close at €1.4 billion for its new fund after around 19 months of marketing and pre-marketing, according to a person familiar with the matter and previous reports in Private Equity News.

The firm's new fund has a hard cap of €3 billion and began officially marketing in March last year, according to a person familiar with the matter. However the firm began pre-marketing the fund -- its sixth -- in May 2012, according to reports in Private Equity News at the time.