Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) has completed the fund-raising for the fourth generation of its private equity secondaries programme.
The total raised for Aberdeen Standard Secondary Opportunities SOF IV (SOF IV) and associated separate accounts is USD556 million, above the target of USD500 million and 30 per cent higher than the amount raised for its predecessor fund, which secured USD428 million of commitments at its final close in October 2017.
Commitments to SOF IV were received from over 50 investors, including public and corporate pension schemes, multi-family offices and high net worth individuals. The geographic split of investors was approximately 60 per cent from the UK and 40 per cent from North America.
The total raised for the four dedicated secondaries funds and separate accounts comprising Aberdeen Standard Investments’ private equity secondaries programme is now almost USD1.5 billion from well over 100 investor commitments.
The strategy of SOF IV is consistent with its predecessor funds and focuses on niche or less competitive areas of the secondary market where Aberdeen Standard Investments can leverage the expertise, insights and relationships of its existing private markets platform.
Stewart Hay, Global Head of Private Markets Client Strategies, says: “Clients have been very supportive of the secondaries strategy since it was launched in 2014. To have reached around USD1.5 billion of capital for the programme demonstrates the strong demand for niche diversified private equity exposure. We worked closely with our investors in the initial stages of product development to create a strategy, target fund size and fee structure to meet their needs. This has been further developed in recent years with the addition of dedicated secondaries separate accounts and other separate accounts, which include secondaries as part of their overall strategy.”
Patrick Knechtli, Head of Secondaries, adds: “Over the course of the first three funds, we have deployed capital across the key target areas we identified at the outset. We continue to see ever improving deal flow, both in terms of quality and quantity, as the market recognises our differentiated secondaries positioning and the beneficial interplay of our funds, co-investments and secondaries programmes. We have strong momentum in our secondaries business and with this latest successful fundraising, are well positioned to address the attractive opportunities we are finding.
“We are grateful for the support from investors over the entire development of our niche secondaries programme.”
