ACE plots one-and-done on fourth secondaries fund – exclusive

ACE & Company, a Geneva-headquartered private equity firm, is expecting a first and final close on its fourth secondaries fund by the end of the year, Secondaries Investor has learned.

ACE Secondary Investments IV, which launched in mid-November, has a $20 million hard-cap, according to co-founder and managing director Sherif ElHalwagy. ACE will accept no more than 20 limited partners and expects the fund to be oversubscribed among its solely private client investor base.

“We operate in an area of the market which we feel is generally under-served, which is to provide liquidity to sellers of fund interests of small to medium sizes at any point beyond six to seven years of the fund’s life,” ElHalwagy said. “We seek opportunities in a variety of geographies, in both the developed and developing world where we feel that there will likely be few competitors sitting at the table.”

The fund will target positions in buyout funds and is not restricted by geographic mandates. ACE charges a 2 percent management fee and 20 percent carried interest on capital called for its secondaries vehicles.

ACE raised $15 million for each of its two previous secondaries funds which launched in 2013 and 2015 respectively. The firm has also raised three buyout co-investment vehicles since inception and manages around $604 million in total assets, according to PEI data.