Lobard Odier completes fund platform spin-out

Zurich-based private banking group Lombard Odier has sold its private equity fund of funds platform, LODH Private Equity, to its management team. The business, which closed a €612 million fund in the first half of 2009, will be renamed Akina.
 
“After twelve years of close and successful cooperation, Lombard Odier and Akina have reached a strategic crossroads and have agreed to pursue their private equity development independently,” said a statement from the two businesses on Tuesday.
 
Akina will be led by managing partner Christopher Bödtker, a former UBS banker who founded LODH Private Equity 12 years ago. The remaining senior management team comprises senior partners Thomas Frei and Yvonne Stillhart – both former colleagues of Bödtker at UBS – and Mark Zünd, formerly a consultant at McKinsey.
 
The spin-out had been considered by the management team for several years, Frei told PEO, as the fund of funds platform’s client base – increasingly North American and institutional only – gradually moved away from that of Lombard Odier.
 
The possibility of changing rules governing banking groups and the private equity industry also played a part, said Frei.
 
Akina’s core product range has been its Euro Choice flagship funds, which invest in the European mid-market. These have garnered commitments of CHF2.4 billion (€1.5 billion; $2.1 billion) in total. Other products would most likely be added to the range following the firm’s spin-out, said Frei.