Secondaries MD Butler leaves Portfolio Advisors

Ryan Butler, a managing director and top secondary dealmaker at Portfolio Advisors, left the firm this month, Brian Murphy, managing director, confirmed for Buyouts.

Butler left to pursue bigger secondary opportunities, Murphy said. “We run a niche secondary business and specialize in traditional secondaries,” he said. “Ryan is a good guy, capable, but wants to do more complex transactions.”

It’s not clear if Butler is joining a new shop or launching his own venture.

Butler joined Portfolio Advisors in 2005. Previously, he worked on primary, secondary and structured private equity fund deals at Deutsche Bank.

Butler worked alongside Managing Director Hugh Perloff, who heads up the secondary group at Portfolio Advisors. Perloff remains at the firm, which has a “deep secondary bench,” Murphy said. Besides Murphy, other senior people on the investment committee are Managing Directors Adam Clemens, Greg Garrett, William Indelicato, John Kyles and Chris Ruder.

Portfolio Advisors has raised two secondaries fund, the most recent of which, Fund II, closed on $910 million in 2012. The firm closed its debut secondary vehicle on $1.1 billion in 2009. Fund I generated a 1.6x multiple and a 16.98 percent internal rate of return as of December 31, according to the Montana Board of Investments. Performance data for Fund II was not available.

Portfolio Advisors invests $200 million to $400 million a year on secondary transactions through 15 different pools of capital, Murphy said. The firm has secondary teams that focus on private equity, real estate, credit and Asia opportunities.

Portfolio Advisors, with $34 billion in assets under management, provides discretionary and non-discretionary advisory services for clients and manages 25 funds representing more than $13 billion in investor commitments.

Action Item: Managing Director Brian Murphy can be reached at 203-662-3459.

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