Trio of buyers join Lexington in $1bn TPG stapled deal

Partners Group, Adams Street Partners and HQ Capital have joined lead buyer Lexington Partners in backing a stapled tender offer on two of TPG‘s Asia funds, Secondaries Investor has learned.

A consortium of buyers acquired the stakes of exiting limited partners in the 2008-vintage TPG Asia V and the 2013-vintage TPG Asia VI in a deal worth $1 billion in overall capital commitments, according to a statement from Lexington on Monday.

It is understood that the deal, which closed on Friday, involved stapled commitments to TPG Asia Partners VII and is the largest stapled tender offer to close in Asia-Pacific.

It is not clear if the $1 billion figure includes the primary and secondaries components or what the stapled ratio was.

Secondaries Investor reported in July that Fort Worth-headquartered TPG had hired Lazard to work on a deal to give liquidity to LPs in the funds, and reported in November that Lexington was leading the deal.

Asia Partners Fund VII has been in market since December 2016 and is seeking $4 billion, according to PEI data.

Lazard’s recent Asian deals include its $1.2 billion strip sale last year involving Asian assets in Warburg Pincus’s 2012 flagship vehicle.

Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel to TPG, led by US investment funds partner Michael Belsley and Hong Kong investment funds partner Damian Jacobs, according to a statement from the law firm.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett acted as legal counsel to Lexington.

TPG Asia V held its final close in January 2008 on $3.84 billion, with Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System among its investors, according to PEI data.

TPG Asia Partners VI raised $3.6 billion by final close in 2014. Its LPs include AP Fonden 2, CPPIB and the University of Washington endowment.

Asia-Pacific accounted for 8 percent of the $7 billion in GP-led deal volume seen in the first half of this year, according to advisor Greenhill’s Secondary Market & Trends Outlook, published in July.

Partners Group, Adams Street, HQ Capital and Lexington did not return requests for comment by press time regarding the consortium’s participation in the deal.