Akina aims for hard-cap on Euro Choice Secondary II – exclusive

Akina Partners has surpassed the €225 million target on its second dedicated secondaries fund, Secondaries Investor has learned.

Euro Choice Secondary II has hit the €245 million mark in its fundraise and is aiming to reach its €300 million hard-cap by the year’s end, Akina Partners confirmed.

The fund launched in June 2016, according to data from Private Equity International, and hit second close on €120 million in June 2016.

Like its predecessor, Euro Choice Secondary II makes investments of between €5 million and €30 million in small- and mid-market European targets.

Investors in the fund include Finnish insurance company LahiTapiola, according to PEI data.

Akina’s debut secondaries fund Euro Choice Secondary held a final close on €224 million in January 2015, above its €200 million target, PEI data show. According to marketing documents seen by Secondaries Investor, that fund has returned a net total value to paid in multiple of 1.88x.

Investors in the fund include York College of Pennsylvania, a US endowment, according to PEI data.

Earlier this week, the firm came to market with its latest flagship fund of funds Euro Choice VII, which is targeting €300 million. As much as 20 percent of that fund is allocated to secondaries, according to a source familiar with the fundraising.

In February Akina Partners was acquired by Swiss counterpart Unigestion, creating a European mid-market specialist with more than €25 billion in assets. Although Akina will eventually take the Unigestion name, Secondaries Investor understands, for now the two investment teams will work on their respective funds and with their own existing investors, Unigestion’s chairman Bernard Sabrier told Secondaries Investor in February.