Ex-Lexington pro joins nascent secondaries firm

Philip Durden, a former professional at Lexington Partners, has joined James Hale at upstart secondaries firm The Aldenwood Group.

Aldenwood, based in San Mateo, California, will focus on buying secondary interests in private equity funds. The firm will target investments in the $25 million to $50 million size range.

The firm was founded earlier this year by Hale, a former partner at Oak Hill Investment Management, a fund of funds and secondaries firm connected to the Robert Bass family.

In addition to specialising in secondaries and co-investment activities at Oak Hill, Hale played a role in the launch of Conversus Capital, a publicly traded permanent capital vehicle formed from the purchase of a $3 billion dollar portfolio of private equity fund interests from Bank of America.

Before joining Oak Hill about a decade ago, he was banker at Lazard Freres.

Durden worked in the Menlo Park office of Lexington Partners, and left the firm in 2008. Hale was also based in Menlo Park with Oak Hill.

A source close to Aldenwood said the firm would seek to begin raising a fund early next year, with a target of less than $1 billion.