Strategic Partners picks up stakes from Invesco

Strategic Partners has acquired a portfolio of stakes from the fund of funds arm of global investment firm Invesco.

The Blackstone unit firm acquired the interests, including Abingworth Bioventures III and Bridgepoint Europe II, from Invesco Private Capital’s sixteen year old fund Invesco Partnership Fund III, according to UK regulatory filings.

Invesco Partnership Fund III is a $300 million vehicle which closed in December 2001, according to PEI data.

Abingworth BioVentures III closed on its $225 million hard-cap and Bridgepoint Europe II closed on €2 billion. Both are 2001-vintage vehicles.

Bridgepoint II invested in twenty-nine companies and has one majority and one minority position remaining in two assets, according to a source with knowledge of the fund. The fund had recorded a net internal rate of return of 29 percent as of 30 June and a multiple of 1.8x, according to a performance document from California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS),

It is not clear how many fund stakes in total Strategic Partners acquired from Invesco. According to a source, the stakes were a small part of portfolio brought to market.

Stakes in Bridgepoint Europe II, which invested in companies including pet supplies retailer Pets At Home and 1st Credit, a debt purchase and collection business, have been changing hands in recent years.

London-based tail-end specialist Hollyport Capital has acquired interests in the fund from Pantheon, BlackRock and Partners Group over the 12 months, and CalPERS increased its position in the fund by buying an interest from Lexington Partners in October.

Denmark’s Sampension, a local and central government pension fund, is another limited partner that increased its stake in a fund it originally backed in 2001, doing so as part of a package deal also including stakes in Bridgepoint Europe III and IV.

According to a source familiar with the matter, the deal was Sampension’s first acquisition on the secondaries market in a number of years and came after the pension conducted due diligence on Bridgepoint Europe V, in which it decided not to invest, and gained insight into previous vintages as part of the process.

Strategic Partners and Bridgepoint declined to comment. Invesco did not return requests for comment. Abingworth could not be reached for comment.