ASI raises $556m for fourth secondaries fund

The asset manager held a first close for the fund on an undisclosed amount in October 2019, and an interim close on $250m in November 2020. 

According to Unquote Data, the GP will commit to the fund 1% or $5m, whichever is lower. 

Unquote previously reported that the fund has a 10-year lifecycle, extendable by three years, including its four-year investment period, and that it aims for a gross return of 20% and a net return of 17%. 

SOF IV raised 30% more than its predecessor fund, which secured $428m in commitments from 31 investors at its final close in October 2017.

Burness Paul was the placement agent, and Proskauer Rose provided legal advice for the fundraise. 

Investors
There are more than 50 LPs in SOF IV, including public and corporate pension schemes, multi-family offices and high-net-worth individuals. The geographical split of investors was approximately 60% from the UK and 40% from North America.

Some of the LPs in the fund, according to Unquote Data, include Finnish public pension fund Apteekkien Eläkekassa, Icelandic pension fund Söfnunarsjóður Lífeyrisréttinda, US public pension fund San Bernardino County Employees Retirement Association, US pension fund Norfolk County (MA) Retirement System, and UK-based Cumbria Local Government pension scheme. 

Investments
The strategy of SOF IV will be similar to the GP's predecessor funds and will focus on niche or less competitive areas of the secondary market in the UK and the US.

Unquote previously reported that the GP will look for stakes in funds-of-funds, small-cap or mid-market primary funds, and secondary funds, and target mature funds that are at least 40% funded.

The portfolio will consist of 40-60% buyout and 20-40% venture funds, as well as considering credit, infrastructure, natural resources and growth opportunities.

Since launching its first secondaries fund in 2014, ASI's private equity secondaries programme has now raised almost $1.5bn through four funds. 

Recent asset management firms that have closed a secondaries fund this year include Swiss alternative asset management firm LGT Capital Partners, which closed its Crown Global Secondaries V on $4.5bn hard-cap; US-based venture secondaries firm Industry Ventures, which closed Industry Ventures Secondary IX on its $850m hard-cap; and Capital Dynamics, which held a final close for Capital Dynamics Global Secondaries V on $786m.

People
Aberdeen Standard Investments – Stewart Hay (global head of private markets client strategies); Patrick Knechtli (head of secondaries).

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• Topics
• Secondaries
• Aberdeen Standard Investments
• United Kingdom
• Secondaries