LGT raises $1.3bn for GP-led deals

LGT Capital Partners has raised a substantial special opportunities secondaries fund while fundraising for its flagship vehicle continues, as reported by sister title Secondaries Investor.

The Pfäffikon, Switzerland-based alternatives manager has collected $1.26 billion for Crown Secondaries Special Opportunities II from 151 investors, according to two separate filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

It is unclear whether this is a final close.

LGT’s special opportunities funds focus on “more complex” GP-led deals such as spin-outs and single-asset restructurings, according to a source familiar with the matter. The firm did not respond to a request for comment about its strategy.

GP-led deals have grown as a proportion of transaction volume over the past few years. They accounted for 39 percent of transactions by value in the first half of this year, up from 32 percent for all of 2019 and 28 percent for all of 2018, according to advisor Evercore. (Secondaries Investor subscribers can get more detail in its Q3 fundraising report.)

Among the LPs in the fund is Employees Retirement System of Texas, which committed $100 million, according to Secondaries Investor data.

In February Secondaries Investor reported that LGT was in market targeting $3.75 billion for Crown Global Secondaries V, its latest flagship secondaries fund.

Cathay Life Insurance and China Life Insurance Company (Taiwan) are among the investors in the fund, having committed $50 million and $30 million, respectively, according to Secondaries Investor data.

Deals that LGT has backed in 2020 include a $600 million yuan-to-dollar restructuring involving Beijing-headquartered manager IDG Capital, a €200 million restructuring on a 2011-vintage biotech fund managed by Medicxi, and a stapled deal involving Danish firm Via Equity.

The asset manager, owned by the Princely House of Liechtenstein, has $65 billion in assets under management, according to its website.