North America

The co-founder of tech giant Thoma Bravo has said the the ability to ‘get out at every instant’ is not as valuable as it may seem.

The firm is planning to acquire Spring Bridge Partners, having bought Landmark Partners in June.

The Stamford-headquartered firm aims to be ‘the biggest small guy’ in secondaries, targeting inefficiencies in the lower-mid market.

Buyers should beware of sponsors using the GP-led market to drive undeservedly favourable terms, said Pantheon secondaries co-head Rudy Scarpa.

GP-led deals like CCMP’s anticipated process represented a much larger portion of secondaries deal volume last year and this year to date.

At a time when concentrated deals are all the rage, small primary fund commitments can offer necessary diversification benefits.

The alternatives giant has closed at least three balance-sheet real estate secondaries deals prior to launching a formal fundraise for the strategy.

There have been six meaningful M&A deals for secondaries firms this year, with a seventh rumoured to be in the works.

VC Secondaries Fund V is being raised by the recently acquired Greenspring Associates team, whose last independent secondaries fund was $800m in size.

The Minneapolis-headquartered firm is investing the $220m Clean Growth V, which counts Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System among its investors.