Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania-based private equity advisory firm Hamilton Lane filed documents on Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering and is seeking to raise up to $200 million selling shares on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
The firm plans to list on the under the ticker HLNE. J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are the main underwriters for the IPO. Others include Goldman Sachs; Keefe, Bruyette & Woods; and Wells Fargo. Hamilton Lane, founded 25 years ago, has $273 billion in assets under advisory and a further $40 billion in discretionary assets under management. It is a popular advisor to public pension funds and other large institutional asset owners, with clients including the Illinois State Board of Investment, the California Public Employees Retirement System, the Washington State Investment Board, and the Public Employees Retirement System of Idaho.
Hamilton Lane has enjoyed rapid growth in recent years, as pension funds continue to build up their private equity portfolios. According a 2014 McKinsey & Company 2014 report, The Trillion Dollar Convergence: Capturing the Next Wave of Growth in Alternative Investments, the majority of large institutional investors are planning to either maintain or increase their alternative investment allocations to meet their long-term investment objectives. Smaller investors are also increasingly coming to see private equity as an attractive investment option.
Hamilton Lane has offices all over the world, with locations in Europe, Latin America and Asia. In 2016 the firm made $181 million in revenue. Its plans for growth include developing more customized programs for clients, expanding distribution to various groups including high-net-worth individuals and family offices, diversifying and growing the firm’s client base, and expanding private equity to retail and defined contribution platforms. The firm is particularly focused on opportunities outside the U.S. and is keen to expand in non-U.S. countries.
