HarbourVest back with Dover Street secondaries fund – exclusive

The firm is expecting to raise around $6.5bn for Dover Street X, including co-investment pockets and SMAs.

HarbourVest Partners is preparing to launch its 10th flagship secondaries fund and is already speaking to investors about the vehicle, Secondaries Investor has learned.

The Boston-headquartered investment firm expects to raise as much as $6.5 billion for Dover Street X, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Co-investment vehicles and separately managed accounts would account for a significant proportion of the total, one of the sources said.

A HarbourVest investment document prepared for Californian public pension Imperial County Employees’ Retirement System in November and seen by Secondaries Investor shows the firm expected to formally launch Dover X in the second half of this year. The document also shows the firm’s Real Assets Fund IV, a secondaries vehicle, will launch in the second half.

At least six of the top 10 firms in Secondaries Investor‘s SI 30 ranking of the biggest secondaries fundraisers are understood to be in market with private equity secondaries vehicles seeking a combined $51.5 billion. These include Ardian, Strategic Partners, Coller Capital and Landmark Partners and Lexington Partners.

HarbourVest is investing its 2015-vintage Dover Street IX fund which held its final close on $4.77 billion in November 2016 after almost a year and a half of fundraising, according to PEI data. Investors in Dover IX include Michigan Department of Treasury with $100 million, Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund with $50 million and Nebraska Investment Council with $50 million, according to PEI data.

HarbourVest declined to comment.