AXA, LGT buy $901m in secondary assets from German bank

The two buyers will split the secondary fund interests, with AXA believed to have put more than EUR350 million into the transaction, which also includes future commitments to funds.

HSH is one of a number of banks in the US and Europe that is selling off non-core assets in order to comply with the Volcker Rule, which limits investments made with banks' own capital, as well as increased capital requirements that come with Basel III. Secondary market deal volume reached nearly $21 billion last year and is tipped to reach $25 billion this year.

Earlier this month, it was reported that AXA has raised $3 billion for its latest secondary fund. It is targeting a final close of $3.5 billion for AXA Secondary Fund V, having set the hard cap at $4 billion.

In the last 18 months, it has acquired a $740 million portfolio of private equity interests from Barclays and $1.7 billion from Citi in June. Last year it scooped up portfolios from Bank of America and Natixis worth $1.9 billion and $718 million, respectively.

Lexington Partners recently closed its latest secondary fund at $7 billion, making it the largest-ever secondaries offering.

Last year, it bought a private equity portfolio from Lloyds Banking Group valued at $731.7 million and, with StepStone Group, co-led the purchase of $1.1 billion in private equity assets from Citigroup. It was also among the buyers as Bank of America Merrill Lynch sold off $1.2 billion in commitments to funds managed by Warburg Pincus.

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• Topics
• Secondaries
• Secondaries
• AXA Private Equity Asia
• LGT Capital Partners
• KKR
• The Carlyle Group
• Cinven
• Warburg Pincus Asia