Generali Group launches €2.7bn fund of funds

AMB Generali Private Equity, the private equity arm of Italian insurance business Generali Group, has launched a fund of funds.
 
The Generali Group itself had invested €175 million ($220 million) in Generali Global Private Equity by February of this year. The company said that commitments had come from ten insurance companies of the group, including four French investors and Generali Austria.
 
Marketing to external investors will begin once the vehicle has “an appropriate track record”, according to a release.
 
Britta Lindhorst, managing director of AMB Generali Private Equity, said in a statement that the fund of funds vehicle is expected in the long term to have an investment volume representing one percent of the group’s €270 billion assets. Private equity assets under management by the group currently stand at €500 million.
 
Advisors on the fund included Partners Group in Switzerland and Hamilton Lane of the US, said Generali.
 
Lindhorst added that Generali Global Private Equity will invest approximately €350 million in the private equity asset class on an annual basis. More than half will be invested in European funds, including an allocation for Eastern Europe, with the remainder to be invested in the US.
 
AMB Generali Private Equity was not available for comment.
 
The Generali Group has been investing in private equity on an opportunistic basis since 1997, but established a formal investment programme in 2002, headed up by Lindhorst, who joined the company in 1998 from Sal. Oppenheim.