Secondaries

It is understood Lazard’s head of US secondaries advisory Amanda Ugarte will join the investment bank to head up and build out its secondaries advisory team.

The Brussels-headquartered buyout shop, formerly known as Ergon Capital, reopened Fund III in 2016 to introduce new external capital via a stapled secondary.

The deal is part of a series of large LP sales that is being driven by liquidity concerns, the need to rebalance investment exposures in investment portfolios and strong pricing for high-quality private markets funds.

The Paris-based manager is set to be back in the market with its sophomore secondaries fund in early 2025, following closes for its flagship and emerging manager funds.

A recent report shows GPs may have developed tricks to downplay the underperformance of some assets, resurrecting the question of how much wiggle room is needed in valuation processes.

Declaration Partners’ deal is part of a wave of GP-led activity this year firms are using to try and generate proceeds for their investors.

Companies with lower earnings growth tend to have higher valuation multiples than their better-performing counterparts, according to a report published by Clipway.

The Dutch pension giant had brought a portfolio worth $2bn-$3bn to market, affiliate title Secondaries Investor reported in June.

The €255bn unit of French financial giant BNP Paribas Group wants to sell a bundle of private equity and infrastructure stakes, Secondaries Investor has learned.

The UK PE industry may look to the example set by their peers across the pond in lobbying against the UK Labour Party's planned carried interest reforms. Plus: favourable pricing expectations are leading more LPs to the secondaries market. Here's today's brief, for our valued subscribers only.