About Hg

• Founded: 1993

• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom

• AUM: approximately €55bn as of 2024

• Strategy: software and services buyout, primarily mid-market, Europe and North America

• Track record: 11 primary buyout funds spanning three decades; Fund 11 closed at €10bn in 2023, the largest software-focused buyout fund on record

• Leadership: founding partners include Nic Humphries; current senior leadership includes Ric Piper and Dom O'Neill

Hg has raised €1bn at first close of its inaugural GP-led secondaries fund, surpassing the halfway point toward a €1.75bn target. The fund marks the firm's first dedicated vehicle for continuation funds and other GP-led transactions, a structural shift from its established primary buyout model. The raise comes as LP appetite for secondaries has strengthened over the past 18 months, driven by distribution pressures and portfolio rebalancing needs across institutional allocators.

The timing is notable — Hg closed its €10bn Fund 11 in 2023, one of the largest software buyout funds ever raised, and is now layering in a secondaries capability while that capital deploys. The sequencing raises a forward-looking question: whether the secondaries fund is primarily a liquidity tool for existing LP bases in older Hg funds, or a standalone strategy with its own capital base and deployment logic. If the former, it signals Hg is managing exit timelines more actively in a muted M&A environment; if the latter, it's a bet that the firm's software deal flow can support two parallel fundraising cycles without cannibalizing LP capacity.

The €1.75bn target is modest relative to Hg's primary fund scale, which suggests the firm is testing the model rather than repositioning around it. Comparable European GP-led vehicles launched in the past two years — including EQT's secondaries fund at €6bn and Ardian's ASF IX at €19bn — have targeted meaningfully larger pools, though those firms entered the secondaries market earlier and with broader asset-class mandates. Hg's narrower software focus could limit deal flow to its own portfolio or require competing for third-party continuation transactions in a sector where exit multiples remain compressed from 2021 peaks.

Source: AltAssets