News & Analysis

Wind Point explores continuation fund on continuation fund

The process is on a fund that resulted from a 2018 GP-led restructuring and points to a next step in the evolution of the secondaries market.

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Wind Point Partners is carrying out a GP-led process on a continuation fund, a next step in the maturation of the market.

The Chicago-headquartered buyout firm is working to get more time and capital for the assets in Wind Point Partners CV1, a continuation vehicle formed as the result of a 2018 GP-led process, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. The deal is understood to be in the early stages.

Evercore is advising on the process, which is expected to be around $300 million in size, according to a third source. A vehicle was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on 25 June.

Neither Wind Point nor Evercore commented when contacted by Secondaries Investor for this story.

CV1 contains railway construction and maintenance firm RailWorks Corporation and chemicals producer Ascensus Specialities, which were transferred out of Wind Point’s 2006-vintage Fund VI as part of the process managed by PJT Partners, Secondaries Investor reported in 2018.

Neuberger Berman led that deal, which came in at around $200 million. More than two-thirds of limited partners in Wind Point Partners VI opted to sell, Secondaries Investor reported.

In April, Ascensus acquired Strem Chemicals, a manufacturer of speciality chemicals for the “most demanding, high-purity end markets” of life sciences and microelectronics, according to affiliate title PE Hub. Wind Point has built Ascensus up by acquiring the speciality chemicals businesses of Dow Chemical and BASF, it said.

One senior New York-based secondaries buyer described the restructuring of continuation funds as a “natural next step” for the GP-led market. “Some of those earlier deals are coming up to three or four years’ old and decisions need to be made on what do with the assets,” the buyer said.

Wind Point is investing its $1.5 billion Fund IX, which closed in February. LPs include Minnesota State Board of Investment and Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, which each committed $100 million.