50 South Capital, the alternative investment arm of Chicago-headquartered financial services giant Northern Trust, has set a $1 billion hard-cap for its latest secondaries fund.
The cap for Private Equity Strategic Opportunities Fund V was disclosed in documents prepared for MWRA Employees’ Retirement System’s 11 July board meeting. PESOF V, which has a $750 million target, is expected to hold a final close in December, Secondaries Investor previously reported.
50 South had not responded to a request for comment by press time.
The fund had committed $452 million to new investment opportunities, of which $337 million has already been funded, at the time of the 11 July presentation documents being published. As of 3 March, the fund had committed to 23 transactions with an average cheque size of $19.7 million.
PESOF V launched in March last year and had raised $625 million as of May, according to Secondaries Investor data. It held a first close in March 2024 on $591.73 million.
The fund is targeting 60-75 investments in North America with deal sizes between $5 million and $25 million, according to the MWRA documents.
Fund V is likely to be 50 South’s largest secondaries fund to date. It has nearly surpassed Fund IV, a 2020-vintage that reached $652 million, according to the MWRA documents.
Secondaries funds that reached final closes across the first six months of the year raised an aggregate $34.5 billion, according to Secondaries Investor’s H1 2024 Fundraising Report. That compares with the $40.5 billion that secondaries funds raised in H1 2023. Vehicles targeting substantial raises remain in market, however. Together, the top 10 funds in the market are targeting $86.5 billion and have raised at least $51.45 billion.
