Northleaf Appoints Shane Feeney to Lead and Expand Its Well-established Global Secondaries Business

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Northleaf Capital Partners (Northleaf) today announced that Shane Feeney has joined the firm as Global Head of Secondaries, based in Toronto.

In this role, Feeney will oversee all aspects of Northleaf’s secondaries program, building on the firm’s highly successful 18-year track record in global secondary investing and enhancing existing team capabilities as the secondaries market continues to expand rapidly.

Feeney most recently served as Senior Managing Director & Global Head of Private Equity at CPP Investments, one of the world’s largest institutional investors with $497.2 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2021. In this role, Feeney led the teams responsible for CPP Investments’ direct private equity, Asia private equity, private equity funds and secondaries investments. Under Feeney’s leadership, CPP Investments’ private equity program assets under management grew by approximately $73.6 billion. In fiscal 2021, CPP Investments’ private equity program generated a net return of 36.3%.

“We’re excited that Shane is joining our team. He will have a significant and immediate impact on the continued growth and evolution of our secondaries business, as well as on our global private markets investment platform more broadly,” said Northleaf Managing Partner and Co-Founder Stuart Waugh. “We are delighted to attract a seasoned leader with proven principal investment experience and success in building global private equity teams and investment programs. We know Shane well – and he’s an ideal fit with our strategy, team and culture.”

To date, Northleaf has invested more than $3 billion across the full spectrum of secondary market transactions, leveraging the firm’s global private markets platform and long-standing private equity sponsor relationships for proprietary deal flow, due diligence information and insights.

Feeney said: “Northleaf is a world-class global private markets investment manager with extensive secondaries experience and a strong growth trajectory, particularly in light of its recent strategic partnership with Power Corporation affiliates Mackenzie Financial and Great-West Lifeco. I’m looking forward to working with everyone at Northleaf to build on the firm’s longstanding track record of developing innovative private equity and secondaries solutions for investors around the world.”

Feeney will report to Northleaf Managing Director and Co-Founder Michael Flood, who leads the firm’s global private equity program.

“Shane’s appointment is an important leadership addition for our firm and supplements the existing capabilities and skills of our integrated private equity team,” Flood said. “As GP-led continuation vehicles, single company secondaries and other structured transactions have become a greater part of the broader secondaries market, Shane’s principal investment expertise and leadership will complement our existing direct private equity strategy and team. We recognized early on that GP-led secondary transactions, especially single asset acquisitions, require differentiated investment skills in order to be successful as the secondary market continues to evolve.”

Feeney joined CPP Investments in 2010 from Bridgepoint Capital Ltd. in London. Prior to Bridgepoint, he was a partner and founding member of Hermes Private Equity’s direct investing business, until its transition to Bridgepoint in 2009. Previously, he was an Associate Director at Morgan Grenfell Private Equity in London and has served as a director of Livingston International, 99 Cents Only Stores, The Gates Corporation and Air Distribution Technologies. He holds a BA in economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from INSEAD.

Northleaf is a leading global private equity investor with more than 20 years of experience and manages more than $9 billion of private equity commitments in pooled funds and separately managed accounts across three investment strategies: secondaries, directs and solutions. Northleaf’s secondaries program was launched in 2003 and has invested more than $3 billion across the full spectrum of private market secondary transaction types. The firm’s direct private equity strategy is led by Matt Shafer, Global Head of Direct Private Equity, based in New York, and has invested $1 billion in non-control direct investments alongside leading private equity sponsors, structured capital solutions for private equity-backed companies and single company secondary investments. Northleaf’s solutions program has raised more than $4 billion since inception in 2001 and specializes in building flexible investment programs that provide investors with access to the full spectrum of private equity strategies, sectors and geographies.

About Northleaf Capital Partners

Northleaf Capital Partners is a global private markets investment firm with US$16 billion in private equity, private credit and infrastructure commitments under management on behalf of public, corporate and multi-employer pension plans, endowments, foundations, financial institutions and family offices. Northleaf’s 150-person team, located in Toronto, Montreal, London, New York, Chicago, Menlo Park and Melbourne, is focused exclusively on sourcing, evaluating and managing private markets investments globally. Northleaf’s portfolio includes more than 400 active investments in 40 countries, with a focus on mid-market companies and assets. For more information on Northleaf, please visit www.northleafcapital.com.

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