EQT launches local private wealth strategy, Zurich bigwig flies in
In a little over three years, EQT has gone from zero to some $8 billion in deals around the country. Now the Swedish private equity firm is growing again, launching its first private wealth fund in Australia.
Street Talk can reveal Zurich-based EQT managing director and head of fund strategy, William Vettorato, landed in Sydney over the weekend and is expected to start meeting with a broad range of financial institutions and distribution partners ahead of the launch of the fund, known as Nexus. It will be run by Ken Wong, EQT’s head of infrastructure for the Asia Pacific, and Frank Heckes, head of private equity in Australia and New Zealand.
EQT’s Ken Wong and Frank Heckes will run the private wealth fund. Natalie Boog
It is believed EQT has appointed Channel Capital as its local service provider to operate the Australian unit trust.
Nexus has already been rolled out in Sweden as EQT moves to provide access for high net worth individuals and family offices to its portfolio. The fund started with assets worth some €350 million ($579 million) and EQT has made commitments of about €700 million, it told investors this year.
The pitch to investors, sources said, is that through a single investment, EQT can provide them with access to a global, diverse platform of strategies and asset classes from early-stage venture capital and life sciences to massive private equity buyouts and infrastructure deals. Nexus will also co-invest in companies alongside EQT’s funds, those sources said.
But EQT appears to be more selective in the investors it will bring onboard locally. In Europe, Nexus is targeting individuals with a minimum investment of €25,000. In Australia, it is expected to make Nexus available to wholesale investors at a
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