Western Europe

While continuation funds are increasingly common liquidity solutions, not all of them are delivering the appropriate returns, according to Cari Lodge, head of secondaries at Commonfund.

Our latest episode of Second Thoughts involved a basket of onions, a permanent marker and two well-respected professionals from Kirkland & Ellis and CVC Secondary Partners.

The firm was a participating investor in a single-asset CV for Essential Pharma.

The firm’s third private credit secondaries fund in the series could be its largest to date.

Swiss GP Gyrus Capital originally invested in Essential Pharma in 2019 as part of a family/founder succession plan process.

The UK pension fund is about to close its second private debt fund, which it aims to scale to £500m, and is looking to consolidate GP partnerships.

Coller Capital’s latest barometer has found that most investors see the main purpose of continuation funds as providing an alternative to selling assets at a low valuation.

The firm defines RE deals as any transaction where private equity is exchanged in the capital stack and where the operator maintains control over the asset.

The process involves moving stakes into a new managed fund, Secondaries Investor has learned.

The private markets firm backed a GP-led process involving Spain’s Bluesea, a hospitality platform.