HarbourVest Partners has held a final close of Dover Street VIII LP (“Dover VIII”), a global secondary fund, with $3.6 billion of capital commitments. The fund closed above its $3 billion target and was oversubscribed. HarbourVest’s prior secondary-focused fund, Dover Street VII, had $2.9 billion of capital commitments.
As with earlier funds, Dover VIII will make secondary investments in venture capital, leveraged buyout, and other private equity assets, as well as portfolios of operating companies, manager spin-outs, and structured transactions.
“Since our first secondary investment in 1986, HarbourVest has helped pioneer the global secondary market,” said Brett Gordon, Managing Director at HarbourVest Partners. “A critical component of our success is our ability to leverage HarbourVest’s platform of relationships with fund managers across the private markets which give us informed insight into the secondary assets we evaluate. We use this unique perspective to identify attractive assets that offer compelling investment opportunities for our clients. Our team also brings proven experience solving complex problems and creating tailor-made solutions for sellers. This credibility often makes us a preferred counterparty for sellers.”
Dover VIII has already closed on four transactions, the largest of which is the acquisition of the assets of Conversus Capital. At the time of acquisition, Conversus was the world’s largest publicly-traded portfolio of third party private equity funds. The Conversus transaction was announced in July 2012 and completed in December 2012. The Dover VIII portfolio has already generated gains as well as early realizations, which have allowed HarbourVest to make an initial distribution to the fund’s investors.
HarbourVest provides investment programs for institutional investors to invest venture capital, buyout, mezzanine debt, distressed debt, and real estate. In over 25 years of investing in private equity, HarbourVest has committed more than $25 billion to newly formed funds, representing relationships with 200 private equity managers. The firm has also completed over $9 billion in secondary purchases and invested $4 billion directly in operating companies. HarbourVest and its subsidiaries have 250 employees, including 80 investment professionals in Boston, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bogotá, and Beijing (www.harbourvest.com).
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 7-11-13
