ICG holds final close on Strategic Secondaries II – exclusive

Intermediate Capital Group has held the final close on its latest secondaries fund on about $1 billion, Secondaries Investor has learned.

The London-based mezzanine-focused firm held the close on ICG Strategic Secondaries II on 31 March, according to two sources familiar with the matter. ICG declined to comment.

Two filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission from the end of January indicated that the fund raised $1.1 billion, including $400 million from an offshore vehicle.

The fund launched with a target of $1 billion to focus on GP-led transactions, including fund restructurings, and the fund can also pursue more traditional secondaries transactions. It held a first close on more than a third of the target in June.

New investors were able to access opportunities in underperforming funds through value-added secondaries investments, ICG chief executive Christophe Evain wrote in June in the firm’s annual report, which mentioned the first close.

“Our strategic secondaries strategy is designed specifically to address this opportunity and has developed a niche position in the highly complex and structured part of the market where we have abundant opportunities to invest,” he wrote.

The fund has already made several investments, including the restructuring of EdgeStone Capital Equity Fund II and EdgeStone Capital Equity Fund III, which are managed by Toronto-based EdgeStone Capital Partners. It also invested in the restructuring of VSS Communications Partners IV, a fund managed by Veronis Suhler Stevenson, according to one of the sources.

The ICG fund has a 1.15 percent target management fee on committed capital, according to a March presentation on the firm’s website.

ICG launched its secondaries platform at the end of 2014, hiring a specialist team from NewGlobe Capital after it partnered with NewGlobe and Goldman Sachs on the $860 million restructuring of US private equity fund Diamond Castle IV.