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Greenpark Capital raises second secondaries fund with E350m

Greenpark Capital, the London-based private equity secondaries specialist, has closed its second fund with commitments worth E350m. It only closed its first fund in 2003 and this second vehicle was comfortably ovsubscribed.

Marleen Groen, Greenpark's chief executive, said: 'The speed with which we were able to close our fund shows that the secondaries market has come of age.'

The growth in the sale of fund investments in recent years reflects the huge growth in private equity fundraising in three or four years preceding. Many of the sales were prompted by financial distress following the collapse of public markets in 2000 but a growing proportion of deals have been driven by a desire among institutions to restructure their portfolios.

Groen said she expected these strategic sales to become an ever more important feature of the market.

'The secondaries market is no longer about private equity investors looking for a solution for technology or dotcom distressed fund positions. The majority of assets now come from institutions driven by structural or asset allocation considerations and we expect that to continue,' she said.

Groen was formerly employed at Coller Capital, one of the largest of the independent secondaries specialists. Coller is expected to begin marketing a new fund next year to follow the record-breaking E2.5bn fund it closed in 2002.

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