Endowus joins forces with HarbourVest Partners to further expand investors' seamless access to private markets

A latest partnership with private markets giant HarbourVest Partners offers clients seamless access to a high-quality evergreen private equity solution, made available in Hong Kong and Singapore for the first time.

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HONG KONG, SINGAPORE, 4 JULY 2024 – Endowus has partnered with Boston, Massachusetts headquartered private markets firm HarbourVest Partners (“HarbourVest”) to bring their evergreen solution to Singapore and Hong Kong, and further enable seamless access to private markets with lower entry minimums for Endowus Private Wealth (EPW) individual and family office clients in these markets.

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Endowus Private Wealth has officially launched in Hong Kong to deliver its technology-driven capabilities with the human expertise of its Investment Office and dedicated client advisors, and provide personalised advisory services tailored to meet the unique needs of Professional Investors (PIs), family offices, and institutions in the market. 

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The HarbourVest evergreen solution is an open-ended private equity structure with an evergreen investment strategy, aimed at providing investors with majority secondary and direct co-investments exposure through a single, compounding investment, introduced for the first time in Hong Kong and Singapore.

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HarbourVest, with 14 offices globally, has a more than 40-year track record in private markets and one of the largest and longest-standing investment teams in secondary and direct co-investments. This solution provides access to a pure play private equity strategy, providing investors immediate access to HarbourVest’s robust deal flow with the capability to deploy more than HK$100 billion (SG$17 billion) a year across private equity direct co-investments and secondaries. It leverages HarbourVest’s open architecture and multi-manager approach, with diversified access to quality deals from leading private equity managers. 

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Secondaries provide diversification across managers and companies along with a lower blind pool risk and dispersion of returns. As a result, secondaries can have an attractive risk-return profile. On the other hand, co-investments provide investors with more targeted exposure to attractive companies, along with greater transparency and control. Co-investments are also often offered at much lower fees than traditional buyout or venture funds. 

In a rapidly changing private markets landscape, an increasing number of investors are considering alternatives to traditional closed-end funds. This solution has the potential to deliver attractive benefits to these investors, and addresses some of the limitations presented by closed-end funds. It is intended to provide ease of access to private equity, through lower entry minimums than may have been traditionally offered; the ability to gain immediate exposure to private equity with no ramp-up period, and without the administrative burden of managing capital calls.

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Gregory Van, Co-founder and CEO of Endowus, said, “Endowus is proud to partner with HarbourVest, a global leader in private equity, to offer our EPW clients access to solutions with enhanced liquidity terms. Offering investors immediate, diversified private equity exposure through an open-end vehicle provides more flexibility than closed-end funds because they have some liquidity with terms allowing investors to periodically redeem units, and generally have lower investment minimums, making it easier for more investors to allocate to private markets — with the added benefit of mitigating a potential J-curve effect on return outcomes. This collaboration underscores our commitment to delivering Best-in-Class investment solutions and our dedication to empowering investors with transparent and trustworthy financial advice."

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Simon Jennings, HarbourVest’s Managing Director and head of private client group in EMEA and APAC, said, “By combining HarbourVest's deep expertise in private markets with Endowus' innovative platform and data-driven approach to long-term investing, we can help Endowus Private Wealth clients achieve their financial goals. Private equity offers the opportunity to deliver attractive returns as it has historically outperformed public markets, which is particularly important at a time when private wealth clients, family offices and institutional investors are looking for diversification and liquidity."

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Hemal Mirani, Managing Director of HarbourVest and head of Asia-Pacific, said, “HarbourVest is pleased to partner with Endowus, a leader in digital wealth management in the region. Our presence in Asia dates back to 1984. Over that time, investments in private markets and alternative assets have continued to gain more traction. This collaboration represents a step forward in our shared mission to provide investors with access to diversified private market opportunities.” 

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Endowus honours its commitment to offering Best-in-Class products by providing access to strategies managed by top-performing global alternative fund managers such as Ares, Carlyle, EQT, KKR, Brookfield Oaktree, Partners Group, and more. HarbourVest is the latest to join this illustrious list. 

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