UK private equity giant CVC Capital Partners has expanded its secondaries platform with the acquisition of London-based firm Glendower Capital.
The deal taps into a growing appetite among limited partners for secondaries—a strategy that traditionally refers to the buying and selling of fund interests held by LPs—because of the greater liquidity they offer. This is because the holding period is typically shorter.
Glendower specializes in fund portfolio secondaries and GP-led secondaries—which can also include continuation funds—as well as asset sales, fund recapitalizations and restructurings.
Last year was a record year for capital raised by PE secondary funds, with 29 vehicles amassing $96.6 billion in commitments, according to PitchBook data. The lion’s share of that capital went to managers including Ardian, HarbourVest Partners and Lexington Partners.
Glendower was founded as an independent PE secondaries firm in 2017 after its founders spun out the secondary business they set up at Deutsche Asset Management in 2006.
To date, the firm has raised four funds with aggregate commitments worth $5.8 billion. The merger with CVC will create a combined group with assets under management of around €113 billion (about $133 billion).
“Glendower has a very similar investment-led culture to CVC as well as the operational and financial scale to address what we see as a compelling market opportunity within secondaries in the coming years,” CVC co-founder Rolly van Rappard said in a statement.
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