– Partners Capital Investment Group (“Partners Capital”), a leading global investment firm with over $70 billion in assets under management, announced the final close of Merlin IV, a private equity co-investment fund, with over $1 billion in commitments.
– The fund attracted commitments from global family offices and institutional investors across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, highlighting strong investor demand for co-investment strategies offering speed and certainty in a rich opportunity market.
– The Merlin co-investment platform, launched in 2019, invests alongside high-conviction private equity managers as an aligned equity partner in single-asset transactions across various deal types.
– Merlin IV is the fourth fund in the platform and the largest to date.
– Arjun Raghavan, Global CEO of Partners Capital, stated the milestone reflects the firm’s ability to source distinctive co-investment opportunities and deliver value through trusted partnerships with leading managers.
– The co-investment strategy targets lower-middle-market and middle-market buyouts, where private equity firms increasingly require reliable equity commitments under compressed timelines.
– Merlin IV enables investments across industries, geographies, and deal sizes, typically ranging from $25 million to over $100 million per transaction alongside private equity managers.
– Adam Spence, Head of Co-Investments, noted the fund’s scale allows Partners Capital to act as co-lead investor or co-underwriter, providing meaningful and reliable capital and becoming a preferred partner for high-quality managers.
– Jennifer Fox Bensimon, CFA, Managing Director of Co-Investments, highlighted that the fund strengthens existing manager relationships and builds new long-term partnerships, emphasizing a constructive, lifecycle-focused approach rather than one-time capital provision.
– Since the launch of the Merlin co-investment strategy, Partners Capital has deployed over $2 billion across more than 60 transactions.
