AlpInvest alums raise fund to buy stakes in funds-of-funds, secondary funds

  • BEX eclipses debut fund with Fund II raise
  • Firm buys interests in funds-of-funds, secondary funds
  • Names Erwin Roex managing partner

When a limited partner matures enough to start investing directly into funds on its own without the use of a fund-of-funds, the LP may look to exit its positions in the fund-of-funds it used to break into the asset class.

BEX Capital of Paris recently raised 120 million euros ($143.3 million) to take advantage of the opportunity to buy those interests when LPs decide to exit out of funds-of-funds.

BEX closed its second fund, beating its 80 million euro target and expanding on its first fund, which closed on 50 million euros.

Fund II is already about 25 percent deployed, according to Erwin Roex, managing partner at BEX. Along with the fund close, Roex moved from non-executive chairman to managing partner, the firm said.

LPs in Fund II include family offices, small institutional investors and a group of private equity professionals investing from their own accounts.

Benjamin Revillon formed BEX Capital in 2010. Revillon for five years was at AlpInvest Partners, helping establish the European secondary-investment activities. Before that post, he worked in investment banking at Deutsche Bank and ABN AMRO.

Roex worked at Coller Capital from 2003 to 2014 and was a partner. Previously, he worked at AlpInvest Partners for eight years.

BEX looks to buy fund interests in funds-of-funds, as well as in secondary funds. The firm does not look for GP-led transactions like restructurings.

The opportunity set around LPs selling out of funds-of-funds is limited but big enough for BEX to handle with the new fund, Revillon said. BEX looks for deals from $5 million to $200 million and will bring in co-investors to deals at the higher end of the range, Revillon said.

The new fund “allows us to be more agile and able to do more things than we did before, [but] the nature of the deals we do is the same,” Revillon said.

Raising Fund I was challenging because BEX was a first-time manager, Revillon said. Fund II was easier because the firm had established a track record.

Action Item: Read more about BEX at the website here: http://www.bexcapital.com/#contacts

The Eiffel Tower is lit in the colors of the Olympic flag during the launch of the international campaign for the Paris bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris on Feb. 3, 2017. Photo courtesy Reuters/Benoit Tessier