Golding Capital Partners, one of Europe’s leading independent asset managers for alternative investments, has held the final closing of its first dedicated secondaries fund with commitments of some €280 million. Thanks to strong demand from institutional investors, particularly from the client segments pension funds and savings banks, the original target volume of €200 million was substantially exceeded. Golding’s experienced secondary market team has already completed 14 transactions, quickly building a diversified portfolio of more than 80 small and mid-cap companies, primarily in Europe.
The current portfolio of this still young fund is performing well and holds great promise; it has already seen its first write-ups and realisations. “Reliable access to attractive opportunities and a rapid exit from the J-curve are the reasons behind this strong demand from our institutional investors“, explains Hubertus Theile-Ochel, Managing Partner at Golding Capital Partners.
“Our good network, years of experience and reputation as a dependable partner enable us to complete bilateral transactions on a regular basis, without competition to maximise prices. Just recently, for example, we were able to acquire a fund interest with a long-term pan-European partner, where after just a few months we are already expecting the first distributions”, adds Dr Matthias Reicherter, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Golding.
Whereas in a classic LP transaction individual fund interests are bought from existing investors, GP transactions are mostly tailor-made liquidity solutions that are implemented in close cooperation with the fund managers for hand-picked portfolio companies. One successful instance of this is a proprietary acquisition of four software and technology companies in Britain, which have almost doubled their operating earnings since the transaction was completed.
“The focus on operational value-added in such high-quality portfolios from very experienced portfolio managers, without using additional leverage, is a perfect fit with Golding’s DNA”, says Richard Wilmes, Managing Director and Head of Secondaries at Golding Capital Partners. “At the moment we are particularly interested in the software and technology sectors, as well as healthcare. They are very stable because of their recurring, often contractually guaranteed demand, and at the same they benefit from long-term growth trends, which makes them a compelling investment.”
“The Golding secondaries fund benefits from our established ESG due diligence processes and the high standards of our sustainability criteria”, adds Christian Schütz, ESG Director at Golding.
Golding is planning to launch a follow-on fund in the first half of 2022. The continued availability of excellent market opportunities and strong ongoing investor demand suggest that this investment segment has further growth potential.
