Secondaries

Sponsors must ensure their own interests align with those of their existing LPs and the buyers to combat a rise in ‘conflict washing’, panellists at last week’s Invest Europe forum warned.

Private Investment Partners VI can invest in PE, private credit, infrastructure and several other asset classes, with up to 20% going into secondaries.

Debevoise advised on roughly $18bn of secondaries transactions during 2020, a vast majority of which were GP-led processes.

Secondaries buyers may find themselves on the hook for sellers’ liabilities. They should look to protect themselves, says Angus Marshall of CFC Underwriting.

The secondaries market offers significant opportunities, but in light of macro uncertainties, it is best to focus on being prepared rather than making predictions, says Pomona Capital’s Michael Granoff.

The secondaries market is growing significantly, driven in part by GP-led deals. Yet this is only the start of its transformation, say Evercore’s Lea Lazaric Calvert, Jasmine Hunet Lamourille and Francesca Paveri.

Strong currents also point to much more opportunistic buying and selling, according to affiliate title Private Equity International’s LP Perspectives 2022 Study.

Japan’s regional banks have been expected to be a key source of secondaries dealflow after piling into alternatives over the past decade.

Ardian acquired a majority of the portfolio, offloaded to crystalise returns after a fiscal year in which Harvard’s PE portfolio returned 77%.

Mike Custar and Jake Stuiver of White Plains-based secondaries advisory M2O discuss the return of the LP market as a counterweight to GP-led deals.