Hunter Point Capital lands $2.66bn for first-time GP stakes fund

Hunter Point Capital raised $2.66 billion for a debut offering, signaling the arrival of a major new player in the fast-evolving world of GP staking.

The amount secured, disclosed in Form D documents, indicates Hunter Point Capital Fund I may have exceeded its target. Two years ago, Bloomberg reported the New York firm was seeking $2.5 billion.

It is not known if Hunter Point is planning to continue capital raising. It declined to provide a comment.

The $2.66 billion raised is significant for two reasons. First, the haul is well-above average for an inaugural fund. To get to this point, Hunter Point would have had to overcome some key challenges posed by a brutal fundraising environment for emerging managers.

Second, the amount is quite substantial for a GP stakes vehicle – first-time or otherwise – raised outside of the market’s three leading players: Blue Owl Capital’s Dyal Capital, Blackstone GP Stakes and Goldman Sachs’ Petershill Partners.

If wrapped up at its present size, Hunter Point Capital Fund I would already be among the 10 largest GP stakes pools, according to Buyouts data.

GP stakes funds, which acquire long-dated minority interests in private equity and other alternative asset managers in exchange for a share of income, have emerged strongly in the past decade. Multiple firms have sold pieces of themselves to fortify balance sheets and finance priorities like commitments to new offerings, liquidity events and strategic growth initiatives.

The investable market for GP staking is expected to be about $600 billion this year, Blue Owl’s Dyal estimates, and to reach about $749 billion by 2025. This calculation of market size by enterprise value takes in not just new investments but also potential re-ups, which are becoming more common in dealmaking.

Hunter Point entered the space in 2020, launched by CEO Avi Kalichstein and executive chairman Bennett Goodman. Among several prior roles, Kalichstein was a managing principal at Easterly Capital and a managing director at JC Flowers & Co, while Goodman was a co-founder of GSO Capital Partners, the forerunner to Blackstone Credit.

The pair established Hunter Point to invest broadly across alternative assets – mostly private equity, private credit, real estate and infrastructure – targeting both mid-market and larger managers in North America, Europe and Asia. Other details of the strategy are not known.

Fund I has to date made seven minority investments. The latest include Hunter Point’s high-profile deal backing Coller Capital, announced this month to support the secondaries firm’s family of funds. In addition, Hunter Point earlier in 2023 announced investing in two private equity shops: the mid-market-focused Inflexion and consumer industry specialist L Catterton.

The other four investments are Iron Park Capital, MidOcean Partners, SLR Capital Partners and Vistria Group. Along with acquiring minority interests, Hunter Point provides value-added services, such as strategic advice and LP capital formation, to assist growth in the portfolio.

Last month, the firm unveiled a GP Financing Solutions platform to offer NAV-based loans and preferred financing solutions. Distinct and apart from the GP stakes side, the platform is co-headed by Richard Golaszewski and Stephen Swentzel, recently hired from 17Capital.

Another senior member of Hunter Point’s team is president Michael Arpey, formerly global head of investor relations at Carlyle.