Alts Manager HighVista Buys abrdn’s US Private Markets Business

HighVista Strategies, an alternative asset manager investing in private and public markets, has agreed to buy the US private markets business of middle market focused abrdn Inc., including the US private equity and venture capital assets, and the investment and operational teams.

Terms of the transaction, expected to close later this year, were not disclosed.

Boston-based HighVista, which currently has $4.8 billion in assets under management, expects to gain $4 billion in the acquisition, which includes a 30-person team.

Kirsten Morin and Peter Mooradian, co-heads of abrdn’s global venture capital investments, will continue to manage the global venture capital strategy, with Peter Lawrence assuming a senior advisor role.

The senior US private equity team, including John Dickie, Scott Reed, Whit Matthews, Rob Nagle and Ryan Tiffany, will continue to manage the private equity strategy.

The acquisition aims to build on HighVista’s sole focus of investing in specialized alternative investments in “less efficient” markets.

“The combination of abrdn’s U.S. private equity and venture capital business with HighVista unites two teams that are culturally and philosophically aligned, especially around our investment approach and pursuit of alpha in inefficient markets,” said André Perold, CIO, co-founder and partner at HighVista.

The firm’s investment strategies include opportunistic private credit and equity, biotech equities, hedged public markets strategies and multi-strategy alternatives.