Stockholm-based EQT pushed investors to allow a profit cut after every asset sale for its latest 6.75 billion euro ($7.7 billion) pool, raised last year. The move was a turnaround for the group, which had been asked by backers to use the European waterfall for its 2011 predecessor.

It also helped incentivize EQT’s junior staff, who are paid lower than industry standard salaries, to stay with the company, Thomas Von Koch, the managing partner, said in an interview with Bloomberg last November.

For their latest funds, both BC Partners and TPG are aiming to double backers’ money over a decade. In return they’ll take a 20 percent profit on deals during the fund’s life, of which as much as a fifth will be handed to executives on an eat-what-you-kill basis once backers have been paid. Assuming the firms meet their fundraising and profit targets, hundreds of millions of dollars could be shared between the most successful members of staff.

Representatives for BC Partners and TPG declined to comment.

These aren’t always popular moves. Refraining from taking profits until investors have been paid back reduces the risk that they have to claw back money if the fund’s performance deteriorates. Sharing profit equally can avoid tension within teams.

Hand Money Back

Demanding better conditions from investors comes with risks. If a fund gets to the end of its life without making a profit, executives that have already been paid on a deal-by-deal basis could be forced to hand the money back.

In 2014, buyout firm GMT Communications Partners Ltd. faced calls for executives to repay profit from earlier asset sales, because a restructuring of the fund would force investors to absorb a loss, people familiar with the matter said at the time. Investors had been given the right to claw back money if the fund didn’t meet targets.

It’s not all about pay. The industry standard for hurdles -- the minimum return on their money that investors are promised before any fees are taken -- is also up for negotiation.

Advent International decided to break with consensus when it began raising its seventh fund last year. Backers were told that the firm was going to drop the 8 percent hurdle rate, which would be key for most managers trying to raise money, people familiar with the matter said.