Coller holds close on Fund VII – exclusive

Coller Capital has told investors that it has held a first close on Coller International Partners (CIP) VII, its latest global secondaries fund.

According to investor sources, CIP VII has secured limited partner commitments worth $3.1 billion to date. The fund has a target of $5.5 billion, and a hard-cap has been set at $6.5 billion.

Investors in CIP VII include Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System, which approved a $75 million commitment to the fund in March, according to minutes of the pension fund’s investment committee meeting, and Taipei-based asset manager Fubon Financial, which committed $50 million to Coller International Partners VII Feeder Fund in June.

Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System has also committed $15 million to the fund, Secondaries Investor previously reported.

Coller is marketing the new product on the back of having invested the $5.5 billion CIP VI, a 2012 vintage. This fund is currently posting a 1.4x multiple on capital invested and has a net internal rate of return of 25 percent, according to a document from the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS), which has invested $100 million in the fund.

PSERS has also invested at least $100 million in the new fund, according to an April investment board meeting document. The document shows all of Coller’s dedicated secondaries funds have performed with between a 1.4x and 1.6x return on investment, with net IRRs of between 10 percent and 25 percent, as of 31 December 2014.

Included in the CIP VI portfolio are a $1.9 billion private equity portfolio previously owned by Lloyds Banking Group, as well as a $350 million portfolio of assets purchased from Crédit Agricole. Buying bundles of limited partner stakes from financial institutions is a preferred source of deal flow for Coller, as is acquiring portfolios of direct investments.

Regulatory changes coupled with portfolio management were the main reasons behind financial institutions’ sales of assets, which Coller was active in buying after the global financial crisis, a principal at the firm’s London office previously told Secondaries Investor.

Fundraising for CIP VII is expected to wrap up later this year.

London-based Coller invests in a range of secondaries transactions including single LP positions in small private equity funds and large portfolios of diverse assets. The secondaries specialist makes investments from between $1 million to $1 billion or more, according to its website.