Ex-Partners Group trio at Bellevue eye up to $300m for debut vehicle

Bellevue Asset Management, which formed its secondaries unit in December, is in market with its debut offering, Secondaries Investor has learned.

The firm is seeking between $200 million and $300 million for its inaugural secondaries vehicle Bellevue Global Private Equity Fund, according to a source familiar with the fundraise.

A spokesperson for Bellevue declined to comment on fundraising.

The Swiss boutique asset manager launched its secondaries unit a month ago with the hire of a trio of veterans from Partners Group. Managing partners Lars Honegger and Steven Kroese were previously senior vice-presidents at the firm. Chris Davies, also a managing partner at Bellevue, was previously structuring team head and legal counsel at the firm, responsible for secondaries transactions.

Capital raised for the vehicle will be invested in transactions primarily in the US and Europe focused on the smaller end of the market or between $1 million and $30 million, a “segment that thrives with alpha-generating opportunities”, according to a Tuesday statement about the fund’s launch which did not note the target. Its expected returns will be similar to those targeted by primary funds.

Deals will focus on “LP investments in top-quality buyout and growth funds”, per the firm’s website.

The vehicle will capitalise on the current “buyer’s market”, in which discounts to net asset value are widening, according to the statement. “Investor flows to and from PE funds are already net negative. As the record level of dry powder suggests, we are likely to see increasing capital call volume. That means that the structural selling pressure on LPs is also likely to persist,” said Honegger in the statement.

Bellevue calls itself a pure-play, highly specialised asset manager with a distinctive focus on healthcare and other attractive growth strategies, per its website. The firm’s private markets team also manages direct investments in the DACH region for wealthy individuals and entrepreneurs.

More than half (56 percent) of LPs plan to allocate capital to private equity secondaries funds over the next 12 months – the highest proportion of respondents to express their interest in the market since 2019, according to affiliate title Private Equity International’s LP Perspectives 2023 Study.

– Adam Le contributed to this report.