Pictet raises $815m for fund of funds programme

Monte Rosa IV, which is more than twice the size of its predecessor, will invest across primaries, secondaries and co-investments.

Pictet Alternative Advisors, part of The Pictet Group, has raised $815 million for its latest private equity fund of funds.

Monte Rosa IV is more than twice the size of its predecessor, which closed in 2015 on $304 million.

“This successful fundraising comes as a confirmation that private equity has now become a major asset class, playing a meaningful role in most investors’ strategic allocation,” Pictet’s head of private equity Maurizio Arrigo said in a statement.

The fund will invest mostly in North American and European buyout funds, and to a lesser extent in emerging markets and other strategies, including venture capital, growth and turnaround. Around 20 percent of the fund will be earmarked for co-investments and secondaries transactions.

The programme is already 20 percent committed, according to the statement. The terms of the fund and the size of the GP commitment were not disclosed and Pictet did not respond to a request for further comment by press time.

In the statement, PAA said that “regardless of the fund size, the portfolio construction will remain the same”. The firm has 40 active fund manager relationships.

“We are very selective when adding new relationships and strive to identify private equity teams that stand out by their track record, niche strategy and investment discipline, among other things,” Arrigo said.

Geneva-headquartered PAA manages $9.2 billion in private equity, of which $7.9 billion is in separately managed accounts, and the rest in the Monte Rosa fund of funds programme. Its investors include pension funds, financial institutions, foundations and family offices.