Hermes raises $1.6bn for private equity investing

The company’s fourth co-investment PEC IV fund, launched over a year ago, closed above $600m

Hermes GPE has raised $1.6bn for private equity investing, in a combination of co-investment and pension funds commitments.

The company closed its fourth co-investment PEC IV fund, launched over a year ago, above $600m. The vehicle was oversubscribed from its initial $350m target and an original hard cap of $450m. PEC IV has already committed $220m to 24 investments in growth-oriented companies and structural investment themes. The company’s third vehicle, PEC III, raised $389m in 2017.

The total raised includes a new private equity mandate from the BT Pension Scheme (BTPS), which has allocated $1bn to be invested over three years and split equally between co-investments and funds.

Among the investors of PEC IV are global pension funds, professional investors and asset managers including the BTPS, State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, the Local Pensions Partnership, CPP Investment Board, Hostplus, Ardian, Korea Teachers Credit Union, SeAH Group of Korea and Decalia Asset Management.

Hermes GPE also raised a further $100m for a co-investment sidecar mandate from an existing client.

Peter Gale, head of private equity at Hermes GPE, said: “Raising the latest iteration of our co-investment club concept well above target, as well as expanding its geographical reach via the addition of new Korean investors, significantly strengthens our co-investment capabilities.”

Over the past eight years, Hermes GPE has done more than 200 co-investment deals and has invested over $3bn.

The firm has invested in several well-known names. It bought a stake in food delivery firm Deliveroo in August 2016, alongside Bridgepoint which led a $275m funding round. After Hermes GPE’s investment, Amazon also took a stake in the business leading a $575m funding round. It also invested in iZettle, a Swedish fin-tech company, which it exited through its sale to PayPal for $2.2bn.

Co-investment has become increasingly popular in recent years for limited partners seeking to cut the costs associated with investing into funds.

The number of co-investment funds raised in 2018 reached 68, worth $10bn, double the capital raised five years prior, according to data provider Preqin. The value of co-investment deals more than doubled to $104bn between 2017 and 2012, according to consulting firm McKinsey. In addition, the number of investors making co-investments in private equity increased from 42% to 55% in the past five years.

Source: Financial News

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