British Columbia shops private equity portfolio

The portfolio is understood to be worth between $250m and $500m, according to sister publication Buyouts.

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation is selling a portfolio of private equity fund stakes valued between $250 million and $500 million, two sources told sister publication Buyouts.

The portfolio includes stakes in some large buyout funds, including two TPG funds, one of the sources said.

A spokesman for BCI declined to comment. It is understood the system is not using an advisor on the deal.

Pension fund manager BCI has been building up its co-investment capabilities and increasing in-house asset management. As part of that, it has been divesting from what it considers non-core relationships.

The system sold off 20 fund investments that it no longer considered aligned with its strategy, according to its 2017-18 annual report.

BCI committed $3.4 billion to private equity for the year ended 31 December 2017, the report said. That broke down to $2.5 billion in fund commitments to 13 external managers and $950 million to co-investments.

Portfolios of LP stakes continue to lead volume in the secondaries market, even as GP-led deals begin to take up more of the market. Norinchukin Bank, one of Japan’s largest financial institutions, brought a portfolio of stakes to market worth around $5 billion at the beginning of this year that Ardian later acquired. A large portion of the portfolio was uncalled fund stakes.

Meanwhile, Public Sector Pension Investment Board, another Canadian pension system, was selling a private equity portfolio valued at more than $1 billion earlier this year.

Total deal volume last year was around $75 billion, including real estate and infrastructure assets, a year-end report from UBS shows. Total private equity volume was estimated at $67 billion, UBS noted.

This article was first published by sister publication Buyouts.