In January 2004, CIP IV closed another landmark secondaries investment – the acquisition of a $900 million portfolio from Abbey bank (now part of Banco Santander). The deal involved 41 fund positions, 32 different managers, 16 direct investments, and around 850 underlying companies. Coller Capital’s fund's ability to provide a complete liquidity solution was very attractive to Abbey, and the firm’s track record gave the bank a high confidence of closure – even in the face of a very tight deadline. The transaction (which Abbey announced in early 2004 as “a fair deal, at a price in line with our expectations”) was, at the time, the largest secondaries investment by a single firm.
Press release