BlackRock has announced that it is acquiring SwissRe's private equity fund-of-funds business. In the past few years, there has been an ongoing consolidation among private equity fund-of-funds. Other private equity fund-of-funds that have been acquired include:
I believe that the consolidation will continue among these large, generalist private equity fund-of-funds businesses. This is due to a number of factors, including regulatory changes forcing financial institutions to reduce their private equity exposure, and a reduction in commitments to the private equity industry overall.
However, I believe specialist funds-of-funds will continue to see robust demand. Specialist funds-of-funds include those focused on technology, venture capital, emerging markets, small-to-mid-market buyout and small funds. In my opinion, these specialist funds-of-funds will continue to thrive providing these focused programs as these programs are difficult to create in-house (due to the expertise and access required) and are also difficult to offer effectively as part of large PE fund-of-funds (as they are often too small a component of the overall business).
Links to articles:
Reuters article on the SwissRe sale to BlackRock:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/03/swissre-blackrock-idUSL6E8I33EK20120703
Bloomberg article on Alpinvest deal:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-26/carlyle-group-agrees-to-buy-dutch-pension-fund-manager-alpinvest-partners.html
Press release regarding Parish deal:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20111130005435/en/StepStone-Group-Acquires-Parish-Capital
FT article on Gartmore-Hermes merger:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/473c6a84-41ac-11df-865a-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1zlmKfzF5
Press release on HRJ deal:
http://www.capdyn.com/newswriter_files/Media-Release-CapDyn-HRJ-closing-EN-Jul-2009.pdf
- Alpinvest - acquired by The Carlyle Group in 2011
- Parish Capital - acquired by StepStone in 2011
- Gartmore and Hermes merged their funds-of-funds businesses in 2010
- HRJ Capital - acquired by Capital Dynamics in 2009
I believe that the consolidation will continue among these large, generalist private equity fund-of-funds businesses. This is due to a number of factors, including regulatory changes forcing financial institutions to reduce their private equity exposure, and a reduction in commitments to the private equity industry overall.
However, I believe specialist funds-of-funds will continue to see robust demand. Specialist funds-of-funds include those focused on technology, venture capital, emerging markets, small-to-mid-market buyout and small funds. In my opinion, these specialist funds-of-funds will continue to thrive providing these focused programs as these programs are difficult to create in-house (due to the expertise and access required) and are also difficult to offer effectively as part of large PE fund-of-funds (as they are often too small a component of the overall business).
Links to articles:
Reuters article on the SwissRe sale to BlackRock:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/03/swissre-blackrock-idUSL6E8I33EK20120703
Bloomberg article on Alpinvest deal:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-26/carlyle-group-agrees-to-buy-dutch-pension-fund-manager-alpinvest-partners.html
Press release regarding Parish deal:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20111130005435/en/StepStone-Group-Acquires-Parish-Capital
FT article on Gartmore-Hermes merger:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/473c6a84-41ac-11df-865a-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1zlmKfzF5
Press release on HRJ deal:
http://www.capdyn.com/newswriter_files/Media-Release-CapDyn-HRJ-closing-EN-Jul-2009.pdf
