Coller Capital and Akin Gump Host Third “Women in Secondaries Network” Event - An Evening with June Sarpong OBE

(London) - Coller Capital, one of the world's foremost investors in private equity's secondary market, and leading international law firm Akin Gump are delighted to have hosted their third quarterly Women in Secondaries networking event on June 30, a panel discussion on “navigating the current secondaries market,” moderated by TV presenter, diversity expert and award-winning author June Sarpong OBE.

Ms. Sarpong is a passionate advocate for equity and inclusion in the workplace and a champion for greater representation. She co-founded the Women: Inspiration and Enterprise (WIE) Alliance in 2010, an international conference supporting female excellence and empowerment and also co-founded the Decide Act Now summit, which brings together innovative minds across the world to generate ideas and initiatives to effect lasting social change.

Last night’s event was part of Coller Capital and Akin Gump’s Women in Secondaries Network, launched in December 2020, and featured a panel of leading secondaries industry names that included Johanna Lottmann, managing director of Park Hill; Petra Bukovec, partner at Pantheon; Jennifer Dunstan, partner at 3i Group; Louise Boothby, partner at Coller Capital; and Mary Lavelle, partner at Akin Gump.

The network seeks to empower, promote and support women working in the secondaries industry through quarterly networking and knowledge-sharing events for industry peers and contacts.

After the panel discussion Ms. Sarpong spoke about her life and career, followed by a networking session for all attendees.

“Coller Capital and Akin Gump’s Women in Secondaries network continues to expand, seeing women across the industry coming together to support the professional development of women across our sector.  We are hugely grateful to June Sarpong for taking the time to join us in our wide-ranging panel discussion, covering current trends in the secondaries market, how one can take advantage of the opportunities it creates, and many more things in between. Her comments around the importance of recognising and celebrating inclusive leadership really struck a chord with me, as this could be a catalyst for accelerating progress within our industry. This has been another successful event and we are very excited for what the future holds,” commented Ms. Boothby.

Ms. Lavelle continued, “With our last two events having featured speakers from outside the industry addressing broader concerns around gender diversity and female leadership, we wanted to switch the focus for this event to enable knowledge-sharing of recent trends and opportunities within the secondaries market. In particular, the panel made some interesting observations around the strength and resilience of the current market and high levels of activity, the importance of resuming some degree of in-person connection for relationship-building post-lockdown, the speculation around the future for private credit secondaries and the potential new entrants to the buy-side of the market, which we hope will have been very insightful for participants. We anticipate that our network will continue to provide this blend of technical secondaries market knowledge and empowerment for female progression within the industry, and, most of all, we look forward to hosting an in-person event before the end of the year.”

For anyone wishing to attend future quarterly events organized by the Women in Secondaries Network, please contact Mary Lavelle and John Daghlian at Akin Gump at wis@akingump.com.

About Akin Gump

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers and advisors in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

About Coller Capital

Coller Capital, founded in 1990, is one of the world's leading investors in private equity's secondary market – widely acknowledged as an innovator and a stand-out player at the complex end of secondaries. The firm provides liquidity solutions to private equity investors worldwide, acquiring interests in private equity funds, portfolios of private companies, and other private equity-related assets. With headquarters in London, and offices in New York and Hong Kong, Coller Capital’s multinational investment team has a truly global reach. Coller Capital closed its eighth fund - Coller International Partners VIII (CIP VIII) - in January 2021, with committed capital (including co-investment vehicles) of just over $9 billion.

About Akin Gump’s Secondaries Practice

Akin Gump is a leader in the secondary transactions market, advising many of the world’s premier secondary funds, institutional investors and investment funds, including buyers, sellers and sponsors on the creation of liquidity solutions in alternative assets. The team’s experience spans all asset classes, including private equity, real estate, credit, venture capital, energy/renewables and hedge, with dedicated lawyers in all major financial centers.

A key part of the firm’s global investment management practice, liquidity solution transactions are an area the firm’s lawyers have been advising on for over twenty years, from the first European billion dollar secondary transaction onwards. Akin Gump has advised on some of the industry’s largest and most transformative transactions, which, together with its long-standing relationship with key intermediaries, enables the firm to execute transactions of all sizes and complexity anywhere in the world and give clients unique insights into the market.  

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