News & Analysis

JPMorgan collects $1bn for secondaries

The firm raised more than $1bn via two traditional private equity funds, while its listed fund of funds recently raised nearly $100m for fresh secondaries deals.

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JPMorgan’s asset management division has raised about $1 billion for investments in the secondaries market.

JPMorgan Secondary Private Equity Investors raised about $780 million, while an affiliated fund, JPMorgan Secondary Private Equity Investors Offshore Fund, has collected about $280 million, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

No targets for the funds were specified in the filing, but the firm said no further fundraising is expected to take place.

The division, which is housed under JPMorgan’s asset management group, is led by Larry Unrein. The Private Equity Group under JPMorgan’s asset management division is separate from the bank’s private equity unit that invests from the balance sheet. The asset management group oversees more than $9 billion for institutional and private investors.

JPMorgan declined to comment Wednesday.

Several other firms have entered the secondaries market this year with fresh capital, including Pomona Capital, which closed a $1.3 billion fund in July; HarbourVest Partners, which collected $2.9 billion for Dover Street VII in April for secondaries investments, and Morgan Stanley, which raised $1.14 billion for its fourth fund of funds that will look at secondaries opportunities along with traditional buyout funds.

Goldman Sachs earlier this year raised $5.5 billion for its fifth secondaries fund.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan Private Equity Limited, the firm’s London-listed fund of funds that focuses on making commitments to secondaries funds, has raised $93.4 million in a rights offering. The fundraising achieved about twice the firm’s original target.

“Capital markets have been so tough this year, we went out and said let’s aggressively target $50 million and be satisfied if we raise $30 million or $40 million,” Greg Getschow, JPEL’s co-lead portfolio manager, said in an interview. The capital was raised in eight to 10 weeks, he said, adding that two-thirds came from new investors. “We had a lot of institutional interest, particularly in the UK,  and got on several private banking platforms.”