DC Advisory launches GP Secondaries practice with hire from Elm Capital

Harriet Matthews
07 September 2022

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DC Advisory has hired Michael Wieczorek from Elm Capital, launching its GP Secondaries for its core private equity clients and expanding on its existing transaction and debt advisory services.

The firm said in a statement that the new practice area was expected to complement its existing Capital Advisory capabilities and US-led GP Stakes team.

Wieczorek joins DC as a managing director. He was the global head of investor coverage at Elm Capital, covering secondaries, private equity fund arrangement and syndication. He has previously held roles at firms including Cebile Capital, Macquarie and HSBC.

With its new GP-led practice, the firm expects to focus on deals with a value of EUR 100m-EUR 500m, Wieczorek told Unquote.

"This business is focused on expanding our sponsor advisory toolkit into the secondaries market," he said. "The first pillar is the growth, rise and focus on single assets and multi-asset funds. We want to assist sponsors in accelerating liquidity for their investors and optimising holding periods and returns. The toolkit will also include preferred equity solutions, complementing our debt advisory capabilities, allowing sponsors to make distributions and/or build their war chest of follow-on capital."

The firm's secondaries offering will also tap into opportunities generated on the primary fundraising side. "Fund liquidity options such as tender offers to investors will become more relevant in this market," Wieczorek said. "The primary direct fundraising market is becoming more crowded, and this will allow sponsors to recycle existing commitments into their flagship vehicles. This also builds new LP relationships, opening the options for stapled primary commitments."

The practice can also assist GP spin-outs with secondary financing options, Wieczorek told Unquote. "In addition, we want to be more strategic in the advice we provide, including assisting with spin-outs and allowing captive teams to set up as independent sponsors," he said. "We will utilise secondary market solutions to accelerate the formation of their third-party asset management capabilities and associated fundraising, helping to seed the new strategy with investors providing blind pool commitments, and using this to fund the setup of the new firm."

While Wieczorek is the first new hire for the team, DC expects to add to its GP Secondaries bench in the coming months, he said. In the meantime, additional resources for any ongoing mandates will be drawn from the firm's existing team in other areas.

A range of corporate finance advisers have been expanding into the GP-led secondaries space in recent months, either through lateral hires or M&A. Most notably, Raymond James expanded into the GP-led advisory sphere with its acquisition of specialist firm Cebile Capital in 2021, as reported.