(Bloomberg) -- Private markets firm HarbourVest Partners is backing Apheon’s new €435 million ($459 million) continuation fund, which will hold two of its portfolio companies.
Apheon is selling its stakes in Dutch technology consultancy firm TMC and ethnic food company Haudecoeur to the continuation vehicle, according to a statement seen by Bloomberg News. Part of the new capital raised will be used to fund growth and strategic acquisitions at both companies, it said in the statement.
Private equity firms across the board, including increasingly managers of mid-market firms, are turning to continuation vehicles that enable them to hold onto their assets for longer and generate liquidity for existing investors amid a still-challenged market for dealmaking. Monetizing assets through sales or initial public offerings remains difficult as valuation gap persists between buyers and sellers.
A number of Apheon’s existing investors also backed the continuation vehicle, the statement showed. Aside from the fund, Apheon is selling minority stakes in TMC to private equity firm MML, and in Haudecoeur to investment group LFPI. The management teams and founders of both TMC and Haudecoeur will reinvest as well.
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