Hamilton Lane Advisors, a global private markets asset management firm, takes a global, opportunistic approach to investing, which may include Africa-focused private equity funds, AGF has learned.

 Jackie Rantanen, Managing Director and Co-Head of the Product Management Group at Hamilton Lane, said: “Hamilton Lane takes an opportunistic approach to the [African] region, we do build global diversified funds-of-funds.”

 “As a result, our funds over the last several years have had exposure to Africa, and we expect that to continue,” she told Africa Global Funds.

 The firm has recently announced the final closing of Hamilton Lane Private Equity Fund IX, a global and diversified private equity fund-of-funds.

 Originally targeting $400m, the Fund received strong interest from the institutional investor community, exceeding its target to close on $516m.

 “We are thankful for the support of a diverse group of both new and existing Hamilton Lane investors from across the globe, including public pension funds, Taft-Hartley pension plans, endowments, foundations and other institutions,” said Rantanen.

“Leveraging our global platform and resources, we endeavor to provide our investors access to high-quality fund managers in an increasingly competitive and crowded market. And we strongly believe our thoughtful portfolio construction approach offers investors a unique solution to achieve both short and long-term performance through a strategic blend of exposure across strategies, vintage years and geographies,” she added.

Hamilton Lane has been managing fund-of-funds strategies since 1998, and Fund IX represents the successful expansion of the firm’s growing, global platform.

Primarily targeting SMID funds, Fund IX aims to provide investors with a balanced portfolio of private market investments by diversifying across primaries, secondaries and co-investments, as well as identifying those managers capable of creating and driving value through operational improvements at the portfolio company level.

Fund IX is the firm’s largest fund-of-funds to date, according to Andrea Kramer, Global Head of Fund Investments at Hamilton Lane.

“With robust deal flow and compelling investment opportunities, we will continue to employ our rigorous and proven due diligence process as we selectively seek out the best opportunities for our investors,” she said.