The National University of Singapore (NUS) is divesting at least US$500 million in private equity and real estate funds to manage liquidity and rebalance its China exposure, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The university, which has total funds and reserves of more than $15 billion, is one of the city-state’s largest endowment allocators. Global buyout and China-focused funds are among those it is seeking to sell, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private.
Asia asset owners are increasingly turning to the secondary sales market — many for the first time — to shore up liquidity, which has been challenged by lower returns from private equity in recent years. Sales of such portfolios often come with a discount to the net asset value in return for getting the capital sooner.
Funds of Advent International, China tech-focused managers Shunwei Capital and ForeBright Capital, and Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners are among those the university is looking to sell, the people said. The process is still ongoing and details of the portfolio for sale could change, the people said.
Switzerland-based Partners Group is in advanced talks to acquire part of the private equity portfolio, one of the people said. Partners Group more than doubled its private equity secondary investments to US$3.2 billion in 2024 from a year earlier to capitalize on “market dislocation.”
Global buyout funds, which are more diversified in investment geographies, are sometimes offered at a single-digit discount. It’s not uncommon for sellers to group a series of portfolios to try to get a more competitive price and not necessarily all the fund investments will get sold, the people added.
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Deal Street Asia earlier reported that the university, advised by Greenhill & Co., was finalizing buyers of a $500 million portfolio.
Representatives from Greenhill, Advent and Shunwei declined to comment. National University of Singapore, Partners Group, ForeBright and Gaw didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Private credit and infrastructure secondaries typically trade at 5% to 10% discounts, while venture funds hover at around 20% and real estate funds face the deepest cuts, trading down by roughly 30%, Wen Ting Geok, head of Asia private equity at Mercer Alternatives, said at the Milken Forum in Singapore this month.
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Globally, secondary market volume, including deals led by general partners, is estimated to jump 25% to US$210 billion this year, according to a report by advisory firm PJT Partners this month. It estimated secondary market transaction volumes led by asset owners, or limited partners, totaled US$29 billion last quarter.
Earlier this year, Hong Kong Jockey Club initiated a process to unload as much as US$1 billion in funds held with Blackstone Inc. and other buyout firms, while sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp. had also looked to offload US$1 billion in positions with firms including Carlyle Group Inc. and KKR & Co. to reduce US holdings before pulling the sale, Bloomberg News has reported.
