HSBC collects $260m for second ‘Vision’ FoF

HSBC Vision Private Equity 2020 Fund raised the capital to invest across primaries, secondaries and direct co-investments.

HSBC Global Asset Management has held the final close on its second annual fund of funds offering private clients access to private equity.

HSBC Vision Private Equity 2020 Fund raised $260 million to invest across primaries, secondaries and direct co-investments, according to a statement. It included commitments from clients of HSBC Private Banking and HSBC Global Asset Management’s institutional clients.

This fund is the second in HSBC’s annual Vision programme, which offers exposure to a global diversified portfolio by geography, sector and strategy. HSBC’s debut Vision fund closed on $250 million in June last year and the third iteration is expected to launch in Q4 2020.

“During these turbulent times, we have harnessed the fundamental characteristics of private equity such as active management, access to capital and manager skill that allow it as an asset class to provide downside protection,” said Steven Ward, head of alternative products at HSBC Global Asset Management.

“We believe there is a strong crop of private equity managers to choose from in this period of lower valuations.”

The fund will allocate 35 percent to secondaries, a spokeswoman for HSBC confirmed to Secondaries Investor.

The private bank has previously committed to 17Capital Fund 4, a €1.2 billion 2016-vintage; BC European Capital X, a €7 billion 2016-vintage; and Carlyle Europe Partners IV, a €3.7 billion 2014-vintage, according to PEI data.

HSBC Global Asset Management raised $800 million across four single-vintage private equity opportunities over the past 12 months, the statement noted. The products offered access to a range of alternative strategies, including real estate equity and debt, secondaries, co-investments and impact investment strategies.

The firm committed $1.7 billion to private equity on behalf of its clients last year and its alternatives team has $52.6 billion of assets, of which $25.6 billion is across private market funds and mandates.

“The ability for our clients to allocate to hard-to-access private equity names and gain meaningful exposure to well-researched and cost-effective direct deals and secondary transactions in a highly institutional and scalable format adds tremendous value to our proposition,” added Henry Lee, head of managed investment solutions at HSBC Private Banking.

Private wealth capital marks a potentially lucrative opportunity for private equity firms. StepStone Group is among those pushing into the area, having launched a platform offering HNWIs access to private equity, real estate, private debt and infrastructure products via fund investments, secondaries and co-investments last September.

Last month, CLSA, a Hong Kong-headquartered asset manager, launched a structured investment product seeking $100 million to give wealthy individuals access to a diversified portfolio of direct secondaries stakes.