AlpInvest nears more than $6bn final close

The Carlyle fund of funds unit’s latest haul includes capital for its commingled programme, cornerstone investments and separately managed accounts.

AlpInvest Partners is nearing the final close for its latest secondaries programme, according to an earnings conference call on Wednesday for parent firm The Carlyle Group.

“AlpInvest is almost finished raising its largest secondaries fund at over $6 billion and is in the process of raising one of its largest co-investment programmes ever,” co-chief executive Bill Conway said during the call announcing the firm’s fourth quarter 2016 results.

According to Carlyle’s earnings statement released on Wednesday, AlpInvest’s Main Fund VI – Secondary Investments had raised €3.3 billion as of 31 December. It is understood that this represents its commingled programme, and that separately managed accounts as well as cornerstone investments account for the remainder.

APG and PGGM had previously made cornerstone investments in AlpInvest’s previous AlpInvest Secondaries Program, which closed on $4.2 billion in October 2013. The programme included $750 million for a commingled fund, AlpInvest Secondaries Fund V, according to a statement at the time.

Carlyle, which raised $14 billion in 2016, reiterated its plan to raise $100 billion between 2016 and 2019.

“We’re confident that we can raise the money we’ve set out to raise because the track record is pretty good,” co-chief executive David Rubenstein said during the call. “We’ve already been in the market talking to investors early this year and last year about some of these large fundraises.”

In 2016 Carlyle invested $17.9 billion, a record for the firm, including $8 billion in corporate private equity, Rubenstein said. Investments were up from nearly $9 billion in 46 transactions a year earlier, including $5.3 billion in private equity. With 36 private equity transactions completed in 2016, the average deal size was about $220 million.

– Marine Cole contributed to this report.