Mercer closes $4.8bn private markets fund

Mercer has closed its second multi-asset private markets fund in the space of two years.

The asset management arm of the global consultancy collected $4.8 billion for Mercer Private Investment Partners VI, a 78 percent increase on its predecessor, according to a statement. PIP V closed in February 2020, Secondaries Investor reported.

The fund can invest as much as 30 percent in private equity, with 15-25 percent of that earmarked for secondaries, global head of alternatives Raelan Lambert told Secondaries Investor. Including allocations from the other pockets, up to 20 percent of the whole fund can go towards secondaries investments.

“We target both LP- and GP-led transactions, and are broadly seeing an increase in GP-led transactions, so expect those to be a larger portion of our secondaries’ underlying exposure than in prior PIP series,” said Raelan.

In addition to the private equity, private debt, infrastructure, real estate and sustainable investment pockets offered by Fund V, Fund VI has allocations to credit dislocation opportunities and diverse managers.

The fund’s composition is dependent on client demand, according to Lambert. PIP VI is comprised of 40-45 percent private debt, 25-30 percent private equity and 15-20 percent infrastructure, with real estate, real assets, credit dislocation, diversity and sustainability making up the remaining 10 percent.

“In a lower-expected-return environment, asset owners and fiduciaries are likely to have a much tougher time achieving their financial objectives going forward unless they think differently about private market investments,” Lambert said in the statement.

Mercer had more than $26 billion in alternatives assets under management and $164 billion in alternatives assets under advisement as of 30 June, according to the statement.

Around $63.8 billion of secondaries capital was raised last year, the second-highest annual total, behind 2020, when $98.6 billion was raised.