Coller racks up $700m for fourth fund

UK private equity secondaries specialist Coller Capital has to date raised $700m towards its fourth fund. The firm has raised commitments from return investors including CalPERS, State of Michigan and Barings. New investments include $75m from Canadian Pension Plan and $42m from Barclays Pension Fund.

The fund is well on its way to achieving its $1bn target, scheduled to be reached by the end of the summer. The target is double the firm's previous $501m fund. In a recent interview, Coller Capital chief Jeremy Coller, referring to the firm’s latest fund said he didn’t anticipate any difficulties in finding deals: “the challenge will be to buy the right ones.'

Coller Capital specialises in the purchase of secondary interests in venture capital, mezzanine and buyout investments and also direct investments. The firm has in excess of $1.7bn under management.

In addition to the Lucent deal last year, Coller’s major deals include the £670m acquisition of NatWest’s private equity investments from Royal Bank of Scotland as well as the $265m secondary purchase of Shell’s US and European private equity funds.