Adams Street signs on with Hatteras Funds in first subadviser deal

Adams Street Partners inked its first deal as a subadviser by agreeing to provide access to its private equity investments for Hatteras Funds, a platform for financial advisers that manages about $1 billion, according to the firms.

Financial terms of the relationship and the potential dollar size of the subadvisory role weren’t available.

Hatteras Funds plans to give financial advisers access to a series of evergreen private investment strategies, a spokeswoman for the firm said. The advisers, in turn, work with their own networks of wealthy individuals to manage their money. Further details of the strategies weren’t available.

“Hatteras selected Adams Street Partners as the private equity subadviser because of its long history of experience and expertise in this space,” Jessica Sherburne, chief marketing officer of Hatteras Funds, said in an email to Buyouts.

The role that Adams Street is providing to Raleigh, North Carolina-based Hatteras Funds closely resembles a separate account, a customized fund of one for a large client.

“Adams Street will treat the Hatteras relationship very similarly to that of a separate account, with the noticeable difference being this is a subadvisory relationship,” a spokesman for the firm said.

Founded in 1972, Adams Street said it established the industry’s first PE fund-of-funds and one of the first dedicated secondary funds.

The firm is led by T. Bondurant French, the firm’s Chicago-based executive chairman. Firms that work with Adams Street include Accel Partners, Austin Ventures, Madison Dearborn Partners and New Enterprise Associates, according to the firm’s website.

Over the summer, the firm hired Kevin O’Donnell as partner in the new position of global head of business development and investor relations. Previously, he worked as a managing director at BlackRock.

In September, Hatteras Funds hired Rob Brown as a managing director of business strategy. At the time, Hatteras CEO David Perkins said the move would help the firm provide alternative solutions designed to meet the needs of financial advisers. Brown had previously worked at Hatteras Funds.

Last year, the firm reestablished itself as an independent employee-owned alternative -investment boutique.