Vitruvian mulls restructuring of 2007-vintage fund – exclusive

Vitruvian Partners is exploring options for a GP-led process on its 2007-vintage fund, Secondaries Investor has learned.

The London-headquartered firm, which focuses on asset-light, high-growth companies, is mulling giving investors in its €925 million Vitruvian Investment Partnership fund the option to roll into a new vehicle or sell their stakes to secondaries buyers, according to three sources familiar with the process.

It has been in early discussions with advisor Evercore and no formal process is in motion, Secondaries Investor understands.

Vitruvian Investment Partnership beat its €900 million target by final close in 2008 after a little over one year in market, according to PEI data. Investors in the fund include AP Fonden 3, Harvard Management Company and New York City Employees’ Retirement System.

The fund delivered a net internal rate of return of 11.7 percent and a multiple of 2.07x as of 31 March, according to documents prepared by Adams Street Partners for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Pension Fund.

The fund has several remaining assets including Swedish technology firm Snow Software and UK public relations firm Instinctif, which counts advisor Rede Partners among its clients.

In 2014, portfolio company Just Eat, an online takeaway food platform, was floated on the High Growth Segment of the London Stock Exchange with a valuation of £1.47 billion ($1.93 billion; €1.7 billion). Vitruvian owned 14.4 percent of the business, sister publication Private Equity International reported at the time.

The firm was founded in 2006 by Apax Partners alumni Toby Wyles and Michael Risman, and BC Partners senior partner Ian Riley. Its most recent fund is Vitruvian Investment Partnership III, which raised €2.4 billion by final close in 2017.

According to UBS’s secondary market survey and outlook for 2019, GP-led transactions accounted for around $25 billion of volume in 2018.

Vitruvian and Evercore declined to comment.