Canada’s largest pension fund and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC are in advanced talks to back PSG Equity’s plan to transfer $1.8 billion of company stakes into a new vehicle designed specifically for this type of asset-shifting.
PSG plans to move roughly a half-dozen investments from several older funds into a new one known as a continuation fund, gaining more time to earn fees and profits from the assets, according to people familiar with the matter.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Toronto, is playing a major role in talks to inject money into the new fund, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential details. Investment adviser StepStone Group and GIC are discussing investing alongside CPPIB, the people said. Evercore is advising on the transaction, they said.
PSG’s plan to transfer about $1.8 billion of investments would make it one of the biggest continuation funds to date in private equity.
The group of investors hasn’t been finalized, according to one of the people. CPPIB and PSG declined to comment. Representatives for GIC, StepStone and Evercore didn’t reply to messages seeking comment.
Private equity firms have been turning more to continuation funds as elevated interest rates have eroded the value of future cash flows and kept a lid on valuations of portfolio companies. That has made it harder for buyout firms to exit positions at the prices they anticipated.
Through continuation funds, managers slide hard-to-sell assets from older funds into a new one, akin to shifting an investment from one pocket to another. Meanwhile, the firm enlists new investors to buy into the continuation fund and cash out old clients, generating more fees for managers along the way.
While some investors see continuation funds as a way to extract more value from companies, others object to the conflicts that arise when a fund manager is effectively a buyer and seller.
PSG’s new continuation fund will include a software company for senior care and another that helps organizations track fleets of cars, trucks and ambulances. Underscoring competition for the assets, the investments have been discussed to trade at 98% of their value, one of the people said.
CPPIB, with C$646.8 billion ($465 billion) of assets as of June 30, has been active in the secondaries market in the past year, doing deals as investors seek to exit illiquid investments, and fund managers look to raise cash for existing companies.
The pension fund emerged as one of the backers of Cinven’s single-asset continuation fund.
Established in 2014, PSG was originally the growth equity arm of Providence Equity Partners before spinning out to become a standalone firm in 2020.
