Unigestion eyes May close for debut post-acquisition fundraise

Unigestion and the former Akina Partners are to embark on their first joint fundraising post-acquisition and are expecting a first close on the vehicle by the end of May.

The combined entity is set to raise a €300 million fund of funds called Unigestion Global Choice VII, which will invest in small-cap and mid-market funds in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific, according to a Unigestion spokesman.

This capital will be pooled with the funds already raised for Euro Choice VII, a fund of funds launched by the former Akina investment team last July, bringing the total to €480 million. Euro Choice VII will act as a pocket for investors which only want European exposure, the spokesman confirmed.

Unigestion’s original institutional client team will carry out fundraising in partnership with a private equity team comprised largely of former Akina fundraisers. Up until now the two teams have separately managed their respective funds and investor bases.

Unigestion acquired its Swiss counterpart in February 2017, creating a combined entity with $6 billion in private equity assets under management across fund of funds, buyout and secondaries vehicles. The firms continued to operate under their own names until 1 January, when Akina officially became the Zurich branch of Unigestion.

In January Euro Choice Secondary II, an Akina-managed secondaries fund, held its final close on €300 million, surpassing its €245 million target after around one and a half years in market. One month prior Unigestion Secondary Opportunity Fund IV, also a secondaries vehicle, had held its final close on €306 million, nearly twice the size of its predecessor, having also been in the market for a year and a half.

Unigestion manages $26.5 billion in assets across private equity, equities, multi-asset and alternatives, according to its website.