Whitehorse debut fund 50% invested

Whitehorse Liquidity Partners, the Toronto-headquartered preferred equity specialist, has already invested half of its $400 million first fund, Secondaries Investor has learned.

Led by former Canada Pension Plan Investment Board secondaries and co-investments head Yann Robard, Whitehorse Liquidity Partners Fund I hit its $400 million hard-cap in May, Secondaries Investor revealed. The fund was oversubscribed within two quarters of launching.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation made a $100 million cornerstone commitment to Fund I, according to material from the pension fund’s February meeting.

Whitehorse targets preferred equity investments in private equity portfolios on the secondaries market, making transactions with institutional investors wanting to exit their fund stakes, funds of funds wanting to create distributions for their limited partners and secondaries buyers interested in financing portfolio purchases.

Robard founded the firm after 15 years at CPPIB, which he left in October 2015. His partner at the firm is Michael Gubbels, the former head of direct private equity at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System.

In May the firm announced that it had hired an associate, an analyst and a controller from OTPP, Paradigm Capital and CPPIB, respectively. The firm also announced the promotion of Rob Gavin, who joined in February 2016, to senior principal.

Whitehorse declined to comment.