Chicago-based private markets firm Adams Street Partners opened its first office in Australia in the Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney.
The office will be managed by Shaun Thomas, a newly appointed principal of investor relations who joined the $52 billion firm from Partners Group Australia in November. He had been handling the distribution of Partners Group private markets strategies to the private wealth, family office and wholesale market with a focus on evergreen and closed-ended offerings across private equity, private debt, private real estate infrastructure.
With a superannuation market of approximately A$3.4 trillion ($2 trillion), Australia is the fourth largest pension fund market in the world, according to Adams Street. In addition to Sydney, Adams Street has four offices in the Asia Pacific region: Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, and Beijing. Adams Street now operates 12 offices globally.
The new office will offer Adams Street’s private markets investment strategies spanning primaries, secondaries, co-investments, growth equity and private credit.
“We are seeing considerable demand from the Australian private markets community for solutions, including custom account and evergreen structure products,” said Ben Hart, partner and head of investor relations (Asia). Shaun’s unique experience and on-ground-access will allow us to better serve this growing market by strengthening our ties with existing clients and the Australian private markets community as a whole, helping us to continue to expand our existing relationships and create new ones as well.
Thomas reports to Hart and will work closely with clients and aid in the developing and monitoring of their private equity programs.
