Coller Capital

Coller Capital, founded in 1990 by Jeremy Coller, is one of the leading global investors in the Private equity secondary market (also known as secondaries).

As a secondary investor, Coller Capital acquires original investors’ stakes in private equity funds (venture capital, buyout and mezzanine) together with portfolios of companies or stakes in companies, from institutions, corporates, government bodies, family offices or charitable foundations. The firm has completed some of the largest transactions in the private equity secondary market – $1 billion or more without the need for syndication. However, Coller Capital has also made single investments as small as $1 million in size.

Coller Capital received a number of private equity accolades in 2010:

• PE International’s Secondaries Firm of the Year award for the 7th successive year
• European Secondaries House of the Year by PE News/Financial News for the 4th consecutive year
• BVCA/Real Deals award for Secondaries House of the Year
• Coller Capital was recognised as the most consistent performing fund manager in the secondaries sector by Private Equity Intelligence (Preqin)

Notable deals

• In 1998, Coller Capital made the largest secondaries purchase of the time: the US-based Shell Pension Trust’s $265 million private equity portfolio.

• In 2000, the firm completed the $1 billion purchase of the National Westminster Bank's private equity portfolio from NatWest's acquirer, the Royal Bank of Scotland.

• In 2001, Coller Capital made the first significant purchase of a corporate venture portfolio, acquiring 27 technology companies from Lucent's Bell Labs.

• In 2004, Coller Capital bought a $900 million portfolio from Abbey National – the largest unsydicated secondaries purchase of its time.

• In 2006, Coller Capital invested in ICICI Venture’s India Advantage Fund I – India’s first secondaries transaction.

• In 2007, the firm made the largest global secondaries investment in a corporate venture portfolio – Royal Dutch Shell.

• Coller Capital’s investments in 2009 included high-profile transactions sourced from quoted private equity players, such as SVG Capital and 3i – for each of which the firm won European Deal of the Year awards [for PE and VC respectively].

• In 2010, Coller Capital formed a joint venture with Lloyds Banking Group to purchase a £480m portfolio of assets from the bank – for which the firm won European Secondaries Deal of the Year.

• In 2011, Coller Capital acquired 100% of Crédit Agricole Private Equity (CAPE) and the large majority of the funds CAPE manages.

Investment Program

Coller is a dedicated secondaries investor with interests in over 300 private equity funds and stakes in more than 2,500 private companies throughout the world. The firm also has a multinational investment team and a global reach. Coller is a dedicated secondaries investor and like many of its peers has limited ability to make new commitments to private equity funds.

In 2007, Coller Capital closed Coller International Partners V, with capital commitments of $4.8 billion and participation from 200 of the world’s leading institutional investors.

Competitors

Coller Capital regularly competes with dedicated secondaries' firms such as Landmark Partners and Lexington Partners. Several large secondary investors with active fund-of-funds platforms (Adams Street Partners, AlpInvest Partners, AXA Private Equity, HarbourVest Partners, Pantheon Ventures, and Partners Group) and certain investment banks with secondaries' divisions (Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, and JP Morgan) also serve as competition. To a lesser extent, the firm competes against mid-sized secondary firms (Greenpark Capital, Pomona Capital, and Paul Capital).

External links

• Coller Capital