Akina holds €73.5m first close for debut secondaries fund

The advisor’s Euro Choice Secondary fund has already invested €35m in a European portfolio of 30 funds from Spain and Portugal.

Private equity advisor Akina has held a first close for its debut flagship secondaries fund, Euro Choice Secondary, on €73.5 million, according to a statement.

Euro Choice Secondary is targeting €200 million and will hold a second close in October, according to Christian Böhler, head of secondaries at Akina. Most of the fund’s limited partners are large institutional investors in Europe and the US. Christian Bohler

Euro Choice Secondary targets high-discount investment opportunities in the European mid-market and invests between €5 million and €30 million in funds focused on the healthcare, energy, food, infrastructure, distribution and real estate sectors, according to the statement.

The fund has already invested €35 million in a portfolio of 30 European funds, the bulk of which is concentrated in 10 stakes from Spain and Portugal. The portfolio was purchased at a discount of more than 50 percent, according to Böhler.  Akina has a pipeline for future fund investments that exceeds €100 million.

“Most of these opportunities are with country funds in the core of Europe, complemented by pan-European mid-market funds,” Böhler said in the statement. “They ideally complement the current portfolio and preserve Euro Choice Secondary’s high level of drawn capital.”

Zurich-based Akina advises the mid-market Euro Choice flagship funds. In 2012, Akina advised Euro Choice Fund V, a $372 million fund of funds and co-investment vehicle, according to PEI’s Research and Analytics division. The first four Euro Choice funds were commingled programmes with a secondary allocation. Fund V also had a secondary allocation, but it was used early in the programme, which is why Akina launched the dedicated vehicle, Böhler explained.