Coller Capital has made headway on its yuan-denominated secondaries fund, a year and a half after Secondaries Investor first reported that the secondaries pioneer was considering launching an RMB fund strategy.
The London-headquartered firm is seeking 1.5 billion yuan ($218 million; €200 million) for Coller Capital Secondaries RMB I Fund, according to a statement, which did not disclose the size of the first close.
A spokesperson for the firm declined to provide details of the first close amount.
CCSRMB I will acquire stakes in RMB funds and will back GP-led processes in the currency, according to the statement.
The development comes as interest in RMB secondaries grows. Hamilton Lane said in February it had opened a Shanghai office and would participate in RMB secondaries through a discretionary pool of its client capital.
The RMB secondaries market offers an “exciting opportunity for the private capital industry in Asia”, Peter Kim, partner and head of Asia for Coller, said in the statement. Kim leads Coller’s Beijing office, which opened in March 2021, as Secondaries Investor reported.
In Coller’s Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 March 2021, the firm’s chairman and chief investment officer Jeremy Coller highlighted Asia as a particular area of interest.
“As well as expanding its geographic reach – in Asia especially – the secondary market is likely to continue embracing an ever-wider range of assets, including private equity interests in real assets, infrastructure and credit,” he wrote.
Secondaries transaction volume in China rose by 71 percent to 1,084 in 2020 and another 70 percent to 1,840 in 2021, according to the China Private Equity Report 2023 from investment banking advisory firm BDA Partners. Activity was driven in part by the declining of value of primary market assets, which prompted many LPs and GPs to realise returns by selling their fund shares in the market, the report said.
Asia and Australasia secondaries accounted for 4 percent of LP-led deals by funds sold and 5 percent of GP-led deals last year, according to Campbell Lutyens’ 2023 Secondary Market Overview. LP-led activity for the region fell year-on-year, while GP-led activity was roughly unchanged, the adviser noted.
– Alex Lynn contributed to this report
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