Ex-HQ Capital co-head seeks $150m for debut fund – exclusive

Labyrinth Capital Partners will focus on non-traditional secondaries deals, Secondaries Investor has learned.

The former co-head of HQ Capital‘s secondaries business has launched a firm and will seek to raise a fund next year.

Chris Lawrence will launch a debut vehicle focused on non-traditional secondaries deals, he confirmed to Secondaries Investor. Lawrence, who co-led secondaries at the investment arm of the German family office where he spent more than a decade, launched Labyrinth Capital Partners in December.

It is understood the fund’s target will be $150 million.

Lawrence, who declined to comment on the fund’s target size, has brought on Chris Light as a vice-president who joins from Eaton Partners. Prior to that, Light spent almost three years at Hamilton Lane.

Timothy Brody, an almost 12-year veteran of HQ Capital, is a senior advisor to Labyrinth, Lawrence said. Brody, who left HQ Capital in July according to his LinkedIn, also has experience at AlpInvest Partners and Willowridge Partners.

Labyrinth will focus on deals smaller than $50 million and invest in restructurings, recapitalisations, strip sales and single-asset secondaries, among other deal types, in private markets, according to Lawrence.

The firm is already working on a portfolio of assets which it plans to raise its fund around, Lawrence added.

Lawrence and fellow co-head Christian Munafo both left HQ Capital in June, as Secondaries Investor reported. Their departures followed that of chief executive Georg Wunderlin and chief operating officer Heiko Dimmerling, who left at the end of March.