Clipway has closed its debut private equity secondaries fund on $6.4bn, making it the largest-ever first-time secondaries fundraise and establishing the firm as the world’s largest independent dedicated secondaries manager, according to a press statement.
Clipway Secondary Fund I attracted commitments from 186 limited partners globally, including sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, insurers, endowments, foundations, family offices and other institutional investors.
The LP base is geographically diversified, with investors from Europe accounting for 44% of commitments, followed by North and Latin America at 21%, the Middle East at 18% and Asia at 17%.
Mubadala Investment Company, Carmignac and General Atlantic have acted as strategic partners to Clipway since its launch, supporting the development of the platform.
The fundraise comes as demand for private equity secondaries continues to grow amid the expansion of private markets, slower exit activity and increasing pressure from LPs seeking liquidity.
Clipway was founded to combine traditional private equity secondaries expertise with proprietary technology and artificial intelligence. The firm now has 62 employees across six offices, including 18 professionals focused on data science and technology.
Its proprietary TESS – or Tech-Enabled Secondaries System – is integrated across the investment process, from sourcing and screening to underwriting, portfolio monitoring and construction.
The platform covers more than 38,500 private companies and 3,400 private equity funds, allowing Clipway to analyse secondary opportunities at the underlying company level.
The system uses data analytics, AI and machine learning to support investment decisions, although the firm said final decisions remain based on the judgement and experience of its investment team.
CSF I focuses on diversified LP-led secondary transactions in North American and Western European buyout funds.
Clipway has completed more than $6bn of transaction volume to date across 1,403 companies and 177 funds, selected from more than $267bn of opportunities processed through TESS.
Approximately two-thirds of the firm’s deployed transaction volume has been sourced through proprietary and off-market channels, according to Clipway.
The firm has also offered existing LPs the opportunity to co-invest alongside the fund on a one-to-one basis without fees or carried interest.
Clipway said the fund would focus on acquiring high-quality private equity exposure at attractive discounts to market pricing, with an emphasis on developed markets and mid-market companies.
The fundraising was led by managing partners Vincent Gombault, Ingmar Vallano and Benoit Verbrugghe, alongside partners Inigo Weston, Joshua Manasseh, Jonathan Hillgarth-Williams, Harry Vander Elst, David Enriquez and Adaleine Yong.
Clipway said ownership of the firm is broadly distributed across its senior partnership, with no individual holding more than 10%.
The final close comes as private equity secondaries have become an increasingly important source of liquidity for investors facing longer holding periods and a slowdown in traditional exit markets.
