Whitehorse races towards $1.5bn target for Fund III

The preferred equity specialist has raised almost $1bn for Whitehorse Liquidity Partners III which launched towards the end of last year.

Whitehorse Liquidity Partners is racing towards the $1.5 billion target on its latest fundraise, five months after Secondaries Investor reported the preferred equity specialist had returned to market with its third vehicle.

Whitehorse Liquidity Partners III has raised $932.56 million through an onshore and offshore vehicle, according to two filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated 2 April. Non-US investors account for $270 million of that amount.

The Toronto-headquartered firm came to market with Fund III in November, its predecessor having held its final close on its $1 billion hard-cap two months earlier.

It is not clear when the firm expects to complete fundraising nor which limited partners have invested so far.

Whitehorse declined to comment on the fundraising.

Alaska Permanent Fund was among the cornerstone investors in Fund II, committing $50 million, according to PEI data.

Whitehorse was founded in 2015 by former Canada Pension Plan Investment Board secondaries head Yann Robard. In 2017, Giorgio Riva, a principal with CPPIB’s secondaries and co-investments team, made the move across to become a partner.

In January, Whitehorse promoted Rob Gavin and Sean Connor to partner, Secondaries Investor reported. Gavin ranked ninth in the Young Guns of Secondaries Class of 2017 list of the most impressive industry professionals under 36.

Whitehorse targets preferred equity investments in private equity portfolios, according to its website. Its transactions include working with institutional investors looking to exit their fund stakes, funds of funds wanting to create distributions for their limited partners and secondaries buyers interested in financing portfolio purchases.