Secondaries

The issue is most relevant to private equity and the community of US pension plans, president and COO Jonathan Gray says.

Funds set up to allow sponsors to hold assets for longer typically must satisfy both an IRR and MOIC hurdle, research from law firm Paul Hastings has found.

Secondaries pricing has become uncertain with inflation, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical turmoil and rising interest rates causing public market volatility since the beginning of the year.

The process is among numerous single-asset deals that continue to drive secondaries market volume, even amid a slowdown in more traditional LP portfolio sales.

The portfolio sale, relatively small compared to the $1bn-plus transactions that hit the market since last year, is expected to get a lot of looks.

Konnin Tam, Steve Lessar and Veena Isaac were fired by BlackRock Monday morning to pre-empt their departure, just as the firm returned to market with a new secondaries fund.

The move is part of a wave of mid-market investment banks bringing on secondaries talent to make sure they can offer sponsors the continuation fund option as part of an exit path.

The fear is losing out on M&A mandates with sponsors because they don't have the ability to offer the continuation fund option as part of a firm's exit options for portfolio companies.

The presence of a US public pension system as a lead investor is a reflection of the growing sophistication and the desire on the part of some big US public plans to take more direct roles in investment management.

Private Equity International sits down with the Blackstone president and COO to discuss Ukraine, what inflation and rising rates could mean for private equity and the firm's path to $1trn in AUM.