Hamilton Lane nears $2bn for latest flagship secondaries fund

The firm held a fourth close on the fund in the first quarter, bringing in just under $300m in commitments, managing director Brian Gildea says on Hamilton Lane's full fiscal year earnings call.

Hamilton Lane is nearing the $2 billion mark for its sixth flagship secondaries fund, Brian Gildea, managing director and head of evergreen portfolios, said on the firm’s full fiscal year 2023 earnings call.

Hamilton Lane is targeting $5 billion for its latest flagship, Hamilton Lane Secondary Fund VI, according to a July 2022 presentation. The vehicle launched in November 2021, according to Secondaries Investor data.

The firm held a fourth close on the fund in the first quarter, bringing in just under $300 million of investor commitments, Gildea said on the May earnings call. The close generated $1.8 million in retroactive fees for the quarter.

The vehicle will remain in the market into the fourth quarter of this year “with both a strong fundraising pipeline and attractive dealflow”, Gildea added.

Hamilton Lane raised $3.9 billion for its predecessor fund, Hamilton Lane Secondary Fund V, which closed early 2021 against a $3 billion target.

The firm is also investing in secondaries transactions from some its inaugural vehicles.

Hamilton Lane’s debut Infrastructure Opportunities Fund, which closed on $590 million in July of last year, has also invested in secondaries transactions alongside direct opportunities, according to Gildea. “We are pleased with the early success and will now look to capitalise on that momentum and grow the platform with the launch of our second fund.”

Hamilton Lane Venture Access Fund I, which launched in November 2022, according to PEI data, will also seek to give investors access to top venture managers by way of the secondaries market, as well as primary and co-investment opportunities, Gildea said. The vehicle held a first close in the first quarter with $105 million of investor commitments.

Hamilton Lane is seeing an increase in “interesting deal activity” in the secondaries market. However, “as often happens in this asset class”, it takes a while for bid-ask spreads to reach appropriate levels, Hamilton Lane vice-chairman and head of strategic initiatives, Erik Hirsch, said during the earnings call. As a result, transaction levels are relatively muted, he added.

He believes “interest in using secondaries as a way to free up capital for both LPs and GPs continues to rise”, in addition to interest and understanding from LPs. “I think if the market continues as it is today, I would envision that you could certainly see the potential for faster dollar deployment.”