Whitehorse Liquidity preps next flagship in relentless fundraising drive

The firm is understood to be pushing ahead with fundraising even amid the tougher environment.

Whitehorse Liquidity Partners, working on wrapping up its fifth fund that’s been in market since 2021, plans to launch its next flagship by the end of the year, according to an LP letter seen by affiliate title Buyouts.

Whitehorse has driven relentless capital raising since its formation in 2015, raising more than $12.5 billion as of earlier this year. The firm is pushing forward with fundraising despite the tougher environment, which is marked by limited partners contending with overexposure to the asset class and tighter liquidity positions from slowing exit activity.

This is manifesting in limited partners slowing their pace of commitments, culling their bench of managers and shrinking check sizes.

“Normally I’d give $300 million or $400 million, now I’m capping everything at $150 million,” said a public pension LP. “LPs are like, ‘hey, you’re not giving me back much money. I need perspective on how money is coming back.’ I’m not getting enough distributions to start handing you back money.”

Whitehorse is wrapping up its fifth flagship fund, which has been targeting $5 billion. Fund V is expected to close this summer. A spokesperson declined to comment.

The firm, led by Yann Robard, said it is preparing to launch Fund VI later this year, according to the investor letter. It’s not clear how deployed the fifth fund is, but Whitehorse has been investing as it raises capital, sources have told Buyouts.

The firm focuses on several liquidity strategies, including acquiring portfolios and splitting them into preferred and common equity tranches, syndicating the common equity; preferred equity for LPs; fund-level liquidity for GPs to support portfolio companies and liquidity for GP management companies, Secondaries Investor reported last year.

Whitehorse also arranged a portion of its leadership bench earlier this year. Leah Boyd, general counsel who joined in 2019, decided to leave the firm, Buyouts previously reported. The firm promoted Matthew Kuchinsky, who joined the firm in 2020, to general counsel. Kuchinsky was the second hire on Whitehorse’s legal team, sources said.

Also, the firm promoted Derek Miners to the newly created role of chief operating officer. Miners, who joined the firm in 2019, also was made a partner, Buyouts reported. Miners joined Whitehorse from CPP Investments, where he worked for more than a decade, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Whitehorse is among several secondaries-related funds on the market. Adams Street Partners said in May it raised more than $3.2 billion for its secondaries investment programme that includes Global Secondary Fund 7.