Hartford, Schroders Launch Private Equity Fund

Hartford Funds and investment management firm Schroders have joined forces to develop the Hartford Schroders Private Opportunities Fund, an actively managed closed-end tender offer fund for accredited investors that predominantly invests in private equity strategies.

Hartford Schroders Private Opportunities Fund will provide broad exposure to small and medium-sized buyout and growth companies with enterprise values between $50 million and $1 billion, which are typically not accessible to investors through public equity markets.

The fund looks for opportunities in high-quality direct and co-investments as well as primary and secondary private equity funds in the US, Europe and Asia, with a focus on healthcare, technology, consumer (discretionary and staples), services and industrials.

“We believe that, by offering the Hartford Schroders Private Opportunities Fund in a tender offer fund structure, we are helping expand investor access to private equity investments through lower investment minimums, periodic opportunities for liquidity, and familiar 1099 tax reporting, as compared to traditional private equity funds,” explained Vernon Meyer, Chief Investment Officer at Hartford Funds.

The tender offer fund is sub-advised by Schroder Investment Management North America, which Hartford said had been a key strategic partner and sub-advisor of Hartford Funds for more than seven years.

Benjamin Alt, head of global private equity portfolios and head of private equity consumer investments at Schroders Capital, and Ethan Vogelhut, head of buyout investments Americas at Schroders Capital, will act as portfolio managers.

This is the first private equity focused fund for Wayne, PA-based Hartford, which largely provides mutual funds, ETFs, and 529 college savings plans. As of June 30, 2023, Hartford Funds’ investment advisory business had approximately $129.9 billion in discretionary and non-discretionary assets under management.