ICG to launch LP stakes fund

Intermediate Capital Group is launching a fund targeting limited partnership stakes, Secondaries Investor has learned.

Oliver Gardey, who joined the €42 billion asset manager in July to head up the private equity funds investments team, will lead the fund, according to a source familiar with the matter. The fund’s investments team manages the listed ICG Enterprise Trust.

ICG LP Secondaries Fund I was registered in Luxembourg on 13 May. The target and launch date are not clear.

Gardey spent 10 years as a partner at Pomona Capital, becoming head of its European operations before moving to ICG last year to take over from Emma Osborne as head of the £687 million ($851 million; €766 million) Trust. He was followed in November by Ryan Levitt, a New York-based former partner with Pomona, Secondaries Investor reported.

“The private equity secondaries and co-investment market is enjoying strong growth and we see significant opportunities to extend our exposure to this market,” Gardey said at the time.

Later the same month, ICG appointed Unigestion’s Vivien Blossier as head of European secondaries investments in its private equity funds investments team.

ICG’s existing secondaries offering focuses on complex, concentrated deals such as spin-outs, single-asset restructurings and hedge fund side pockets, head of PE solutions Andrew Hawkins said in January. The $2.4 billion Strategic Equity Fund III held a final close that month.

ICG declined to comment.