Chris Witkowsky

The deal is one of the rarer energy assets to make use of secondaries as a way to extend holds and deliver liquidity to limited partners in an older fund.

The €590bn Dutch pension manager's sale is a re-engagement with the market after the system pulled a similar offering last year.

Bids on the portfolio were due this week, with the expectation that the process closes by end-September.

Venture/growth represented about 8% of GP-led volume in the first half, which matched the full-year volume of last year, according to Jefferies' recent volume report.

The Dutch pension administrator's sale is part of a wave of sales processes that institutional investors are using to help manage their programmes amid an exit drought and a slowdown in distributions.

The firm is understood to be running a process to move the vegetation management services company out of its $934m Fund IV and into a new vehicle.

Available secondaries capital grew to a record high of $302bn in the first half, with aggregate NAV of retail vehicles managed by secondaries investors surpassing $80bn as of March, according to a report from Jefferies.

The firm wants to move around eight assets into a separate vehicle to extend their hold periods.

Novacap acquired Revau in 2020 through its first financial services fund, which it closed in 2021 on C$417m.

The overall buyers on the deal could account for a portfolio of around $3-$4bn, Secondaries Investor understands.