HarbourVest Partners, a global private markets investment specialist, has announced its partnership with AP7, a Swedish government pension fund, as a founder investor in a new private equity strategy. The USD835 million USD anchor investment was made in January 2023 in a new open-ended evergreen private equity solution designed for non-US institutional and High Net Worth (HNW) investors.
HarbourVest writes that it has offered a range of solutions which clients can select depending on their specific investment needs since it was founded in 1982. The open-ended nature of this new secondaries and direct co-investment solution further complements this range by including a liquidity-generating mechanism.
The firm writes that its partnership with AP7 is focused on delivering a solution for both institutional and private clients and continues HarbourVest’s commitment to the private client segment. This began in 2007 with the now London-listed HVPE offering daily liquidity to non-US investors, it continued in 2014 with the launch of a global annual program offering clients a core diversified solution, and it progressed further in 2016 with the creation of one of the first dedicated private client groups.
HarbourVest writes that its 40-year private market tenure, scale, and ability to deploy more than USD10 billion per annum in direct co-investments and secondaries enables the firm to access a large volume of what it believes are quality deals from leading managers across open-architecture solutions.
“Private equity has historically outperformed public markets and offers the opportunity to deliver attractive returns at a time when private and institutional investors are looking for diversity and, if their investment parameters change, liquidity,” says Simon Jennings, Managing Director and head of HarbourVest’s private client group in EMEA and APAC. “This new solution provides this flexibility and access to investment solutions previously only available to very large institutional investors.”
HarbourVest writes that Jennings has over 20 years of experience operating at the cross-section of private markets and clients, both in EMEA and APAC.
“During our 20-year partnership with HarbourVest, we have built a relationship based on collaboration, insights, and opportunity,” adds Per Olofsson, acting CIO at AP7. “This new open-ended solution presents a compelling opportunity to address AP7’s strategic objectives and continue to shape our private equity exposure achieving both short, and long-term goals.”
Olofsson continues, “While this solution started as a private client initiative, we have seen its effectiveness in helping to augment existing alternative allocations for institutional investors.”
