Dutch managers collaborate on PE co-investment platform

The three firms seek to achieve economies of scale and cost benefits from this partnership, as they will collaborate for operational due diligence, and legal and tax advice. Other advantages include having stronger bargaining power when negotiating fees with GPs.

Among the potential participants in the platform are the pension fund clients of each of the three players. SPF Beheer works with Dutch Railway Pension Fund (SPF) and Dutch pension fund for Public Transport (SPOV), while Achmea IM manages the assets of Achmea and a group of more than 20 Dutch pension funds. Blue Sky's client list includes KLM pension funds.

"Part of the allocation for private equity will be taken up by co-investments," Achmea's senior portfolio manager for private equity, Jos Van Gisbergen, told Unquote. "There will be annual allocations set for this by the pension fund clients, which can be called in."

Achmea IM is the largest of the three with €130bn in assets under management (AUM), followed by Blue Sky Group (€22bn) and SPF Beheer (€20bn). The three organisations began working collectively in 2016.

"Each client will have its own allocation towards private equity, which will be in a range of 0-5% of AUM," said Van Gisbergen. "So, per organisation, there can be a difference. For the co-investment pool, however, each of the three firms will have an equal right to invest on the platform."

SPF Beheer has a 5% target AUM for total private equity investment for its clients, which is invested in developed markets, such as Europe and the US.

Van Gisbergen said that for the co-investments there will be a 2019 allocation in excess of €100m, which can be invested globally in the small- to mid-cap segment predominately in Europe and the US. Excluded sectors are fossil fuels, tobacco and weapons.

The three players have also appointed a private equity adviser, who they declined to name, whose responsibilities include selection and monitoring of the co-investment programme.

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