Natixis’s Flexstone appoints secondaries head

Natixis subsidiary Flexstone Partners has appointed a head of secondaries investments.

Kristof Van Overloop joins as director responsible for sourcing and executing secondaries investment opportunities, conducting due diligence and managing GP relationships, according to a statement. He will be based at the firm’s Paris headquarters.

Van Overloop joins from the London office of Adams Street Partners where he spent eight years in the secondaries investment team, most recently as a principal. Prior to that he was at Morgan Stanley, advising on M&A and capital markets transactions in the Benelux region.

Flexstone closed its Select Opportunities II fund in July on its €300 million hard-cap, Secondaries Investor reported, twice the capital raised for its debut fund. The fund targets small- and mid-market co-investments and secondaries deals on a global basis.

Speaking to Secondaries Investor in August, Flextone’s chief executive Eric Deram said the fund would target single lines and small sub-portfolios with an average ticket size of €10 million to €15 million. He cited European country- and sector-specific funds as an untapped source of value.

“Our investment strategy focuses on two pillars: first, value creation should primarily be the result of growth and operational improvements at portfolio company level; second, portfolios should be concentrated, with capital allocated only to a limited number of top performing fund managers yet diversified across vintages, fund types and geographies,” he said.

Natixis Investment Managers combined its three regional funds of funds – Geneva-based Euro Private Equity, Singapore-based Eagle Asia Partners and New York-based Caspian Private Equity – to form Flexstone in 2018.

The firm has $7.6 billion in assets under management and advisory and focuses on private equity, private debt, real estate and infrastructure fund managers via primary, secondaries and co-investment opportunities.