Singapore, Canada funds mull backing US$1.8 billion asset shuffle

SINGAPORE’S GIC and Canada’s largest pension fund are in advanced talks to back PSG Equity’s plan to transfer US$1.8 billion of company stakes into a new vehicle designed specifically for this type of asset-shifting.

PSG plans to move about 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, said people familiar with the matter. 

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is playing a major role in talks to inject money into the new fund, they said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential details.

Investment adviser StepStone and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, are discussing investing alongside CPPIB, the sources added. Evercore is advising on the transaction, they noted. 

PSG’s plan to transfer about US$1.8 billion of investments would make it one of the biggest continuation funds to date in private equity. 

The group of investors has not been finalised, said one of the sources. CPPIB and PSG declined to comment. Representatives for GIC, StepStone and Evercore did not reply to messages seeking comment.

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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. This has made it harder for buyout companies 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 company 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.

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PSG’s new continuation fund will include a software company for senior care and another that helps organisations track fleets of cars, trucks and ambulances. Underscoring competition for the assets, the investments have been discussed to trade at 98 per cent of their value, one of the sources noted.

CPPIB, with C$646.8 billion (S$614.8 billion) of assets as of Jun 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 private equity company 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. BLOOMBERG