Landmark seeks to raise $10bn in latest cycle

Landmark Partners wants to match or better its previous fundraising cycle despite the disruption caused by covid-19.

Speaking on a fourth quarter 2020 earnings call on Thursday, the chief executive of parent company Brightsphere Investment Group said the secondaries specialist was targeting “north of $10 billion” across its private equity, real estate and infrastructure funds, despite the “normal cadence of fundraising” being disrupted by the pandemic.

“We would expect to get to our target over the next couple of years – this year and 2022,” Suren Rana said. “That sort of compares to what we did in the last vintage.”

The covid crisis has proved a logistical barrier to fundraising and also caused delays from clients, Rana said. The firm raised $1 billion in 2020, all for Landmark Infrastructure Partners II.

Infrastructure Partners II is in market targeting $1.5 billion, Secondaries Investor reported in September 2019.

Landmark’s funds have a GP commitment of 1 percent, with 60 percent funded by the parent company and 40 percent by the team, Rana said in response to an analyst’s question. Fully 85 percent of carry will go to the team, with the remainder going to the parent company.

Flagship private equity secondaries fund Landmark Equity Partners XVII launched in July 2020 and has received a $90 million commitment from Cathay Life Insurance, according to Secondaries Investor data. The fund is targeting $6 billion, according to documents prepared for the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority.

Predecessor Landmark Equity Partners XVI held its final close in 2018, raising $4.95 billion plus just over $2 billion co-investment capital, Secondaries Investor reported. Among the deals it has backed are a $1 billion-plus single-asset-restructuring centred on software company Ivanti, a Clearlake Capital portfolio company.

In September 2019 Secondaries Investor reported that Ian Charles, a 13-year veteran of the firm’s private equity team, was leaving to start his own venture.

It is unclear if the firm is actively marketing its ninth real estate fund. Landmark’s last real estate secondaries fund raised $3.3 billion, against a target of $2 billion, by final close in 2018.

Secondaries funds that held final closes during 2020 raised $95.57 billion, exceeding all previous full-year totals.