Innovations in Private Equity Fund Liquidity Solutions

Strategic Acquisitions
With the opportunities presented by market dislocation, some market participants turn to NAV/Pref as value-add tools to finance opportunistic acquisitions or add-ons, particularly later in a fund’s lifecycle when investor commitments have largely been drawn.

Leveraged Returns
In certain asset classes (including where leverage is limited due to regulation or otherwise at the asset level), NAV/Pref may be used to implement a leveraged strategy, enhancing the rate of return a fund is able to deliver to its investors.

Incremental Recycling
Although NAV/Pref have historically been seen by some as “end-of-life” liquidity solutions for funds, some managers use these solutions during the investment periods of funds to bridge distributions and generate recallable capital for further deployment.

Extending Time Horizons
Market conditions may lead private funds to hold investments for longer terms, both to protect and enhance value. NAV/Pref provide a means for funds to do so while still unlocking liquidity to be distributed to investors by way of a “dividend recap” at the fund level. Financing providers are repaid in due course from future sales of the underlying assets.

Protective Restructuring
NAV/Pref can serve as financing sources to de-risk existing investments, providing a bridge to asset-level restructuring or funding for covenant cures or deleveraging under asset-level financing, ultimately with the aim of achieving enhanced exit multiples.

"Aftercare” Working Capital
As unfunded investor commitments reduce over the life of closed-end funds, fund managers may turn to NAV/Pref as sources of working capital for the continued management of their portfolio.

Continuation Vehicles
An increasing number of private funds seek ways to extend their management of assets through the use of continuation vehicles (funded by existing and/or new investors). NAV/Pref often play important roles (including in combination) in the structuring and financing of such continuation vehicles, both by way of acquisition funding and/or a source of financing for distributions to outgoing investors.

Sponsor Expansion
An increasing number of fund managers use NAV/Pref at the sponsor level (TopCos, Management Company and/or GPs) to facilitate additional capital for new or existing strategies, incremental sponsor investment in underlying funds, accelerated realization for sponsors of future economic entitlements and for tax planning purposes. Such solutions can also be deployed as valuable “succession planning” tools and for other strategic transactions.