Akina closes Euro Choice Secondary on €224m

The vehicle is Akina's first pure secondary fund investment programme and received commitments from both new and existing Akina investors.

The fund had a hard cap of €250m and was launched in December 2013, holding a first close in July last year on €73.5m. It held an interim close on €122.5m in October 2014. It has a lifespan of two years, beginning at the time of the launch.

Investors
The fund saw commitments from 35 LPs, including public and private pensions funds, endowments, insurance companies, family offices and high-net-worth individuals. Approximately 60% of investors hail from across Europe, while the remainder come from Australia, the US, Asia and Canada. Akina claims it has seen "increased appetite for a European product from the non-European market".

The minimum commitment to the fund is €5m, though a minority of investors have gained access with a lower amount. The majority of backers have committed between €5-12m, while 5-10 larger players have committed substantially more than the minimum.

Akina has also committed to the fund. Its management fees and carried interested are "at the favourable end of the market standard", which it claims is a range of 1-1.5% for management fees and 10-20% for carried interest.

Investments
ECS will look to invest in mid-market European funds, focusing on deal sizes between €5-30m and funds which are already approximately 95% drawn. Akina claims this area of the market sees limited competition.

The fund is already 45% committed and claims to be in line with its targeted investment pace. It aims to be fully invested by the end of 2015.

It will complete in the region of 5-7 deals per year, buying up around 30-40 funds within larger portfolios.

At the time of the fund's interim close in October, it had a valuation uplift of 1.8x money drawn. This is now down to 1.6x money drawn following further investments.

Investors' initial exposure will be fully paid back in two years, with the fund completely liquidated in no more than five years.

ECS's investments are in funds focused on the healthcare, energy, food, infrastructure, distribution and real estate sectors. More than 90% of its deals are sourced through its proprietary platform and networks.

People
Christopher Bödtker is managing partner at Akina, while Thomas Frei and Mark Zünd are senior partners.

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