ICG hits $1.3bn first close on Fund III – exclusive

Intermediate Capital Group is nearing the target of its latest secondaries fundraise around eight months after launching the vehicle, Secondaries Investor has learned.

Strategic Equity Fund III is to hold a December first close on $1.3 billion on the way to its $1.6 billion target, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The fund launched in April targeting $600 million more than its predecessor, as Secondaries Investor reported. Similar to the other funds in the series, Fund III will focus mainly on end-of-life restructurings and other complex secondaries deals.

ICG Strategic Secondaries Fund II closed on $1.1 billion in March 2017 after just over one year in market. Investors in the fund include ICG Enterprise Trust, the firm’s listed private equity arm, according to PEI data.

In July, ICG and Goldman Sachs Asset Management used their secondaries funds to back the $325 million spin-out of Aretex, a private equity team that was part of Chinese conglomerate ZZ Capital International. It also backed the September restructuring of a 2006-vintage central and eastern Europe-focused fund managed by PineBridge Investments spin-out ForeVest Capital Partners.

The firm is set to back the long-awaited spin-out of Standard Chartered’s Asia-based private equity team – a deal set to close soon, Secondaries Investor understands.

In its H1 2018 Secondary Markets Survey, advisory firm Evercore noted that secondaries buyers intend to raise $77 billion during the second half of this year and the first half of 2019. Including leverage and the $64 billion of dry powder as of 30 June, this could mean between $170 billion and $200 billion will be available for the strategy.

London-headquartered ICG is one of the 17 firms in the SI 30 list of biggest fundraisers who are in market with secondaries vehicles, as Secondaries Investor reported on Tuesday.

ICG declined to comment on matters related to fundraising.