Summit Partners mulls multi-fund GP-led process

Summit Partners is mulling a deal that would signal the reopening of the fund restructuring market after five months of relative stasis.

The Boston-headquartered technology investor is considering a process that involves assets from multiple funds being rolled into a continuation vehicle, according to two sources with knowledge of the deal.

Limited partners would be given the option to sell their exposure or roll into the new vehicle as part of a process likely to be worth “well north” of $1 billion, one of the sources said.

The firm is understood to be in discussions with advisor Evercore, and if the process goes ahead it will likely launch in September.

It is not clear which funds are under consideration for restructuring.

Summit Partners has $21 billion in assets under management across a range of venture capital, growth equity- and mezzanine funds, according to PEI data. In July it held the final  close on hard-cap for Summit Partners Europe Growth Equity Fund III and Summit Partners Venture Capital Fund V, which raised a combined $2.2 billion.

The firm’s limited partners include the California State Teachers’ Retirement System and Alaska Permanent Fund.

The proposal is similar to Insight Partners‘ multi-fund transaction from last year, Secondaries Investor understands. In that deal, the New York-based tech investor moved more than 30 assets out of seven older funds into a continuation vehicle in a deal advised by Lazard, sister publication Buyouts reported. HarbourVest Partners and Coller Capital were lead investors in the $1.5 billion process.

Evercore estimated that GP-led deals accounted for 39 percent, or $7 billion, of the $18 billion of secondaries transaction volume recorded in the first half. Of this, $4.1 billion was preferred equity deals.

Summit did not respond to requests for comment. Evercore declined to comment.