North America

ICG and Manulife closed on their respective debut LP-led and GP-led vehicles this week. Both firms believe the secondaries market will continue to specialise in this way – they’re just early adopters.

Manulife Investment Management has held the final close for its debut vehicle, private equity-focused Manulife Strategic Secondaries Fund.

AXA Investment Managers joins a growing list of players buying up secondaries shops as it plans to tap GP-led and direct secondaries opportunities in North America.

Kaiser came out atop of the secondaries category in affiliate title Buyouts’ Deals of the Year awards. The non-profit healthcare organisation deftly closed its portfolio sale last year despite market turbulence, price fluctuations and the banking crisis.

Hollyport closed its eighth flagship fund, along with its first-ever co-investment vehicle, at the end of 2022 on more than $2.2bn.

Continuation fund will hold Wellspring portfolio companies SupplyOne, Cadence and Pentec Health, and includes $125m of unfunded capital for growth.

The deal comes as LP secondaries sales keep steady and drive activity with strong pricing and sellers eager to capture liquidity from private equity portfolios.

The system has not yet finalised a contract with a secondaries adviser.

As the LP-led market grows ‘white hot’, mosaic transactions are sparking debate among some practitioners over the impact on returns.

$1trn in annual deal volume is achievable with upticks in secondaries trading in non-PE asset classes, NAV lending, preferred equity and GP stakes, according to Whitehorse Liquidity Partners’ founder.