Partnership will improve access to secondary markets

Fund placement and capital advisory firm Allen Partners has formed a strategic partnership with London-based FIRSTavenue Partners to improve access to secondary markets for Australian and New Zealand private capital investors.

FIRSTavenue’s secondary market advisory services include limited partner (LP)-led restructurings, establishing continuation vehicles, net asset value (NAV) loans and tender offers. Linked with Allen Partners’ local origination capacity and investor relationships, the partnership is intended to provide local institutional investors, general partners (GPs), family offices and high-net-worth individual investors with improved access to secondary markets.

FIRSTavenue’s entry into the local market comes amid accelerating consolidation across the Australia superannuation sector where merger activity over recent years has created increasingly complex portfolio integration and liquidity management challenges for both investors and managers.

Partner at Sydney-based Allen Partners, David Vella, said: “Many chief investment officers are managing portfolios they did not construct, often with legacy commitments or vintage gaps. This partnership brings together global secondary execution capability with local market understanding, allowing institutions and managers to address these challenges in a more targeted, efficient and cost-effective way.”

FIRSTavenue’s secondaries team has executed more than $US25 billion in NAV transactions globally and recently closed three significant infrastructure continuation vehicles. In private fund placement, FIRSTavenue has raised over $US100 billion in capital commitments since inception. The firm’s clients include pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, insurance groups, family offices and GPs seeking liquidity or structured capital solutions.

“Australia and New Zealand represent around 2% of global private markets capital but have historically had more limited access to scaled secondary execution and structuring capability,” said partner and head of capital solutions at FIRSTavenue, Nick Chronias. “By combining Allen Partners’ deep regional relationships with our global platform, we are strengthening the secondary market toolkit available to investors and fund managers in the region.”

The two firms have already begun discussions with several superannuation funds and managers and expect the first transactions to be completed soon.

Image:  Allen Partners partner David Vella.