PIP completes secondaries sales

Pantheon International Participations (PIP), the London-listed fund of funds managed by Pantheon Ventures, has relieved itself of a further £52 million (€59 million; $84 million) in uncalled commitments with the completion of another secondaries sale following a disposal earlier this week.

PIP sold fund interests – valued at the end of March 2009 £121 million – for £46 million, representing a discount of approximately 62 percent.

Like many listed fund of funds, PIP operates an over-commitment strategy, whereby incoming cash distributions are used to fund ongoing fund commitments. When distributions slow, as they have done in this market, funds risk being unable to honour new capital calls.

The completion of this week’s two secondaries transactions reduces PIP’s unfunded commitments from £687 million to £481 million, a level the company considers in line with its financing capacity given the liquidity prospects “for the next few years”, the firm said in a statement this morning.