Singapore’s GIC Said to Offer $700 Million in #PrivateEquity Fund Stakes

Singapore’s GIC Said to Offer $700 Million in #PrivateEquity Fund Stakes
Bloomberg
...Government of Singapore Investment Corp., which manages more than $100 billion of the city-state’s reserves, is seeking to sell about $700 million in private- equity holdings, according to three people familiar with the matter.


The sovereign fund named Zurich-based UBS AG (UBSN) to manage the sale, which involves stakes in mostly older buyout and venture- capital funds, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. Among the stakes GIC is offering are funds from Atlas Venture, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, WL Ross & Co. and JC Flowers & Co. LLC, the people said.

Large investors in private-equity funds, known as limited partners, are increasingly selling assets as they seek to reduce the number of firms they do business with or to comply with new regulations. California Public Employees’ Retirement System last year sold $800 million in buyout stakes to Amsterdam-based AlpInvest Partners NV. Harvard University, the world’s richest college, is looking to unload more than $1.5 billion in funds.

“A number of larger limited partners have recently sought to use the secondary market to sell non-core holdings and in some cases to free up capital for new commitments,” said Andrew Sealey, a managing partner at London-based Campbell Lutyens & Co., a private-equity advisory firm.

Jennifer Lewis, a spokeswoman for GIC, declined to comment on the sale.

Harvard Stakes

Harvard Management Co., which oversees the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university’s $32 billion endowment, is offering more than $1.5 billion in stakes in predominantly U.S. venture and buyout funds through UBS, according to an investor presentation obtained by Bloomberg News.

Funds from Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co., Monitor Clipper Partners LLC, Claremont Creek Ventures and Weston Presidio Capital are among those being offered, according to the investor presentation.

Christine Heenan, a spokesman for Harvard Management, declined to comment on the sale.

Banks have also been big sellers of private-equity assets as they look to raise money to comply with new regulations that raise the amount of core capital they’re required to hold.

Secondary Buyers

Buyers looking to acquire the stakes, known as secondary investors, last year raised about $10.2 billion, according to Preqin Ltd., a London-based research firm. Secondary investors, including Coller Capital Ltd. and the private-equity unit of Axa SA (CS), Europe’s second-largest insurer, are currently looking to raise $19.2 billion for similar purchases, Preqin said.

In August, Axa Private Equity and LGT Capital Partners Ltd. agreed to pay 620 million euros ($803.9 million) for a portfolio of buyout-fund stakes owned by Hamburg-based HSH Nordbank. Two months earlier, Citigroup sold $1.7 billion of leveraged-buyout assets and Barclays sold a 460 million-pound ($714.8 million) portfolio.

Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY), Britain’s second-biggest government-owned lender, is considering selling about 500 million euros of similar assets, three people with knowledge of the firm’s plans said in November.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sabrina Willmer in New York at swillmer2@bloomberg.net
Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in Paris at achassany@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net

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