Private equity powerhouse Blackstone (BX) has agreed to acquire Credit Suisse's (CS) Strategic Partners secondary private equity business for an undisclosed sum, the company announced yesterday.
Strategic Partners has $9 billion in assets under management (AUM). At the rule-of-thumb valuation of 2% of AUM, this would suggest the business might have sold for $180 million or more -- but the parties are keeping mum on the precise dollar value for now.
What is known is that Credit Suisse has been implementing "strategic divestments" of some of its businesses since last summer, Strategic Partners among them.
Strategic Partners' business model involves buying secondary interests in private equity funds from other investors who already hold such interests. Since 2000, Strategic Partners has raised more than $11 billion of capital commitments, completed more than 700 transactions, and acquired more than 1,400 underlying limited partnership interests from other parties. Its performance has been in the top quartile among its peers. Strategic Partners is staffed by 26 secondary investment professionals, and headed by Stephen Can and Verdun Perry.
The deal is expected to close by the third quarter.
