
GAM Investments has announced a strategic collaboration with Liberty Street Advisors to offer its clients access to late-stage, privately-owned technology companies.
As part of the tie-up, GAM plans to launch a new capability leveraging Liberty Street’s private markets investment team.
The move is expected to help the firm’s clients obtain exposure to a market that was previously difficult for them to access.
GAM Investments Group CEO Peter Sanderson said: “We are delighted to partner with Liberty Street to provide our clients with access to leading privately-owned companies. The team at Liberty Street has deep, multi-decade investing experience, as well as established relationships within the venture eco-system, and is an ideal partner for us.”
Growth equity is a part of the private equity asset class, which is placed between venture capital and traditional private equity.
The advancement in technology has driven the rapid expansion of growth equity space across various sectors and industries in recent years. Subsequently, the number of venture capital-backed companies with $1bn valuation has also increased.
Sanderson said: “In our view, privately-owned companies in their later-stage non-public funding rounds could offer investors strong long-term performance potential, while their historical downside resilience and lower volatility compared to public equities also makes this asset class attractive for portfolio diversification.”
Liberty Street managing director Kevin Moss added: We believe that late-stage, private growth companies can present an attractive balance of risk and return for investors, compared to early-stage venture investments and public equities.”
In September last year, GAM decided to pull back five funds managing a total of €258m in assets following a global equity restructuring strategy.
Last May, the firm opened a new office in Singapore in a bid to tap into the evolving wealth in the Asian market.