Hamilton Lane raises its largest-ever global secondaries fund

Hamilton Lane Secondary Fund IV launched in early 2016 with a target of $1.25 billion. Commitments were received from more than 100 investors, including corporate and public pensions, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, endowments, foundations and other financial institutions. Fund III closed at $900 million in September 2013, having exceeded its $650 million target.

“We believe our platform offers distinct competitive advantages in the secondary market, providing access to relationships, information and differentiated deal flow -- all of which allows us to invest selectively as an informed buyer,” Tom Kerr, managing director and global head of secondaries at Hamilton Lane, said in a statement. 

After hitting a high of $49.6 billion in 2015, alternatives secondary market deal flow fell to $42.2 billion last year, according to Setter Capital – although this doesn’t include opportunistic and non-traditional buyers such as sovereign wealth funds. The total for private equity specifically dropped 7.7% to $34.8 billion, of which $25.6 billion comprised LP positions in funds and the rest directs.

Meanwhile, secondary fundraising reached $27.5 billion in 2016, up from $21.6 billion the previous year, with Partners Group and HarbourVest Partners closing their most recent global vehicles at $2.8 billion and $4.8 billion, respectively. Both firms comfortably exceeded their targets.

In the first three months of 2017, $13.6 billion was committed to secondary funds, the largest quarterly total on record, according to Preqin. This included $2.5 billion for Neuberger Berman’s fourth vehicle, which closed in nine months, having originally targeted $2 billion. As of April, 48 managers were in the market seeking an aggregate $33.9 billion.

Hamilton Lane, which went public last year, had more than $332 billion in assets under management and supervision at the end of 2016, across a range of private markets strategies. Its Asia presence comprises offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul. Over the course of the year, the firm raised $516 million for a global fund-of-funds and $210 million for a global credit fund.

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• Topics
• Fundraising
• Secondaries
• GPs
• Hamilton Lane
• Secondaries