Montana Capital Partners buys ICG Trust fund and co-invest stakes

The firm has gained exposure to Kester Capital's 2013-vintage European buyout fund and healthcare manufacturer Frontier Medical Group.

Montana Capital Partners has strengthened its relationship with UK mid-market manager Kester Capital via a secondaries transaction.

The Switzerland-headquartered niche secondaries firm used its latest fund to acquire stakes in the 2013-vintage GCP Capital Partners Europe II and co-investment vehicle GCP Capital Partners Europe II ‘A’ from ICG Enterprise Trust, according to two UK public filings.

Marble House Secondary Plus, a fund managed by German private equity firm Marble House Capital, also sold a stake in Fund II to Montana.

The three stakes traded for around €20 million, according to a source familiar with the deal. The co-investment vehicle holds UK healthcare manufacturer Frontier Medical Group, Secondaries Investor understands.

GCP Capital Partners was the European private equity arm of investment bank Greenhill & Co. It spun out in 2013 with the support of cornerstone investor Goldman Sachs Asset Management and rebranded as Kester Capital later that year, according to a statement on its website.

Montana is investing mcp Opportunity Secondary Program IV, an €800 million fund that closed in April after five months in market.

ICG Enterprise Trust is the listed arm of alternatives manager ICG.

In Secondaries Investor‘s predictions for 2019, published in December, Blackstone Strategic Partners’ co-head Verdun Perry suggested that more co-investment stakes were likely to trade hands.

“At some point, some of those co-investment participants may want liquidity in advance of the natural disposition by the GP that made that investment,” Perry said.

ICG and Montana declined to comment. Kester and Marble House did not return requests for comment.