Ropes & Gray and Kirkland & Ellis have scored lead roles advising on Swedish private equity firm EQT’s $3.7bn buyout of British investment firm Coller Capital, in a deal that marks EQT’s entry into the rapidly growing secondaries market.
EQT said on Thursday it would pay $3.2bn upfront for Coller, a pioneer of the secondaries market that manages close to $50bn in assets, with a further payment of up to $500m in cash based on performance.
Ropes & Gray acted for EQT on the transaction, with the deal team led by New York M&A partner Ariel Deckelbaum, London PE partner Shona Ha, New York PE partner Elizabeth Langton and firm vice chair and PE partner Neill Jakobe. Swedish firm Vinge has also advised EQT.
Ropes has counselled the Stockholm-listed group on a number of high-profile deals, including its $14.5bn acquisition of education group Nord Anglia Education last year.
Meanwhile Kirkland is acting for Coller Capital, with the team headed by Chicago-based M&A partner Emma Lange-Novak and investment funds partners Jordan Murray, Andrew Reilly and Jack Rossman, who are based across New York and London. The firm has advised Coller on a number of deals in the past, including a minority investment from State Street Investment Management late last year.
Nordic firm Roschier is also acting for Coller Capital on the deal.
EQT said the acquisition would be funded through the sale of 81 million of its shares. The group expected the deal to be “mid-single-digit accretive” to its fee-related earnings.
As part of the deal Coller Capital, which has invested nearly $18bn in more than 100 transactions according to its website, will become part of EQT and be branded as Coller EQT. Coller EQT will form part of a new secondaries business unit alongside EQT’s existing private capital and real assets that will be led by Jeremy Coller, chief investment officer and managing partner of Coller Capital.
In a statement, Coller said: “This partnership marks a defining moment for Coller. We are bringing more than 35 years of secondaries expertise to EQT to realise our shared ambition to shape the future of private markets.”
News of the deal follows the secondaries market growing 41% in 2025 according to EQT, with deal volumes reaching $226bn and expected to more than double by 2030.
“Secondaries have become an increasingly important tool for clients in managing liquidity and portfolio construction, and in supporting long-term ownership of high-quality assets,” EQT CEO Per Franzen said. “Coller is a global leader in this field, with deep expertise... Together, I believe we can double the size of Coller’s business in less than four years.”
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