Partners Group picks up three fund stakes

MLC, the wealth management division of the National Australia Bank, has transferred three stakes in European private equity funds to Partners Group, according to UK regulatory notices.

The funds MLC exited include BC Partners’ BC European Capital VIII and Apax Partners’ Apax Europe VI and Apax Europe VII.

BC European Capital VIII raised €5.88 billion in less than five months in 2005, according to a statement. The fund was oversubscribed and received commitments from pension systems including the Canada Pension Plan and Investment Board and Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, according to data from Secondaries Investor’s sister publication Private Equity International. Fund of fund managers Commonfund and Pantheon Ventures also committed to the fund. BC closed its subsequent fund, BC European Capital IX on €6.68 billion in 2010.

Apax Europe VI, also a 2005 vintage fund, raised €4.31 billion. Limited partners in the fund included US pensions the California State Teachers’ Retirement System and the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System and asset managers AlpInvest Partners and Ardian, according to PEI data.

Apax Europe VII closed on €11.2 billion, surpassing its €10 billion target, in 2007. LPs in the fund include fund of funds managers Portfolio Advisors and Fort Washington Capital Partners, as well as insurance companies Allianz and Nordea Life & Pension, according to PEI data. The fund was generating a net return multiple of 1.2x as of 31 March, according to documents from SL Capital Partners. Apax has yet to raise another European fund, according to PEI data.

Partners’ secondary purchase comes months after managing director and co-head of secondaries Philipp Schnyder announced his departure from the firm at the end of 2014. Schnyder is based in Zug, Switzerland and has been with the firm since 2002, Secondaries Investor previously reported. Partners Group’s secondaries practice is also led by managing director Adam Howarth. The firm did not return a request to comment by press time.

MLC, which declined to comment, was established to provide superannuation, investment and insurance solutions to individual investors and corporate customers. As of 2012, the Sydney-based asset manager had committed more than $5 billion to private equity funds, according to PEI data.