Axa Private Equity (Axa PE) is buying stakes worth $500 million in buyout funds from Mizuho Financial Group, Bloomberg reports. Commitments to nearly 20 mainly U.S. and European funds managed by firms, such as Blackstone Group, are being bought by Axa PE, a division of Axa.

The holdings for Axa will be managed by London- based 3i Group. Axa PE is looking to build up $3.5 billion for a fund investing in private equity assets held by banks. In the past four months, the firm has acquired $3.7 billion of private equity stakes from banks.

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