The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board announced Thursday that it had sold limited partner stakes in 25 North American and European private equity buyout funds to CVC and Ares Management. The secondaries sale was valued at a total of C$1.2 billion ($860 million).
According to CPP Investments, the transaction included various primary commitments and secondary purchases made by the fund more than 10 years ago.
“This transaction was undertaken as part of our active portfolio management activities. As a systematic buyer and seller in the secondaries market, we see this sale as an attractive opportunity to optimize the construction of our portfolio,” said Dushy Sivanithy, managing director and head of secondaries at CPP Investments, in a statement.
As private equity exits have slowed down, and while private equity firms have been holding their portfolio companies for longer and longer, LP’s have increasingly turned to the secondary market to offload their stakes.
The C$699.6 billion pension fund’s private equity investments totaled C$151.2 billion, as of December 31, 2024. According to the fund’s 2024 annual report, private equity returned 9.6% and 14.1% annualized, respectively, over the past one and five years.
In CPP Investments’ third quarter of fiscal year 2025, ending December 31, 2024, the pension fund committed 167 million euros to a secondaries fund from AXA Investment Managers, acquiring indirect exposure to 12 buyout funds and provided new capital for North American and European buyout transactions.
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Tags: Ares Management, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, CPP Investments, CVC, Dushy Sivanithy, Private Equity, secondaries