Campbell Lutyens pushes further into US – exclusive

Campbell Lutyens is opening two additional offices as part of its continued push into the North American market.

The offices in Chicago and Los Angeles are to meet growing demand for secondaries advisory and placement agent services from North American investors with a local presence, according to a statement from the firm seen exclusively by Secondaries Investor.

This brings the firm’s US office count to three, in addition to its New York premises. Campbell Lutyens also has offices in London and Hong Kong.

Among the senior people on the ground in Chicago is head of North American real assets Guillermo Marroquin, who rejoined the firm from Macquarie Infrastructure & Real Assets in January, Campbell Lutyens’ managing partner and chief executive Andrew Sealey told Secondaries Investor.

The firm has operated in North America for 15 years, building a presence in the infrastructure asset class. It began a concerted push into the private equity market around two-and-a-half years ago, Sealey said.

The firm has 30 staff in the US, up from eight in 2015, with more secondaries and fund placement hires to come in 2018. It is seeking work on portfolio sales as well as more complex GP-led deals, he added.

The firm recently responded to a request for proposal by Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association regarding the sale of $1.4 billion of private equity assets, according to documents on the pension’s website.

Campbell Lutyens is advising on $14.5 billion of transactions for North American clients and has raised $16 billion in capital from North American LPs over the past three years, according to the statement.