• Closes oversubscribed PF4 at US$4.0 billion hard cap
• Over US$6.3 billion invested and committed across over 75 transactions since inception
• Team grows to 85 individuals

TORONTO, April 19, 2021 – Dawson Partners (“Dawson or the “Firm”), a specialized investment manager focused on providing structured liquidity solutions to the alternative asset class, held a successful final close for Dawson Portfolio Finance 4 (“PF4”) at its US$4.0 billion hard cap. This is in excess of its US$3.0 billion target and double Dawson’s US$2.0 billion PF3, which closed in October 2019.

“We are delighted to announce the final closing of our oversubscribed PF4.  In a year that challenged us all, we are grateful for how our investors adapted to a virtual world. We are also proud of how the Dawson team mobilized from a fundraising, deal doing and team building perspective” says Yann Robard, Managing Partner of Dawson.

With the closing of PF4, Dawson has now raised over US$7.5 billion in commitments, deployed over US$6.3 billion across over 75 transactions and grown to 85 professionals since inception in 2015.

Yann Robard added, “Our unique approach has enabled us to help create a sizeable and growing market opportunity, one that we believe we are just beginning to explore. We believe that as private markets continue to grow, so will the demand for our unique structuring solutions. Our constant focus on innovation has been well received and adopted by the market as evidenced with 2020 being our largest year ever from a capital raise, deployment and team growth perspective. Over the past year, we successfully shifted to a virtual fundraise, deployed capital in turbulent markets when fear was the highest and continued to grow our team.  In fact, during a year where many halted hiring, we did not.  We remained steadfast in our focus to scale successfully, focusing on culture and diversity.”

With regards to the fundraise, Michael Gubbels, a Partner at Dawson said, “We remain very thankful to our limited partners for the support we received in an environment that required us all to adapt and remain flexible. Dawson welcomed a total of 112 investors into PF4 comprised of leading insurance companies, public and corporate pension plans, family offices, financial institutions and individual investors. Our investors enabled us to stay capitalized as we addressed the existing market opportunity.”

With regards to deployment, Giorgio Riva, a Partner at Dawson said, “As we raised capital, we also maintained our focus on deployment. Dawson deployed US$3.0 billion (pre-syndication) in 2020 making it our largest deployment year ever. We chose to invest through the crisis with conviction and fortitude.  In hindsight, we believe it was the right call.”

With regards to market opportunity, Rob Gavin, a Partner at Dawson said, “Our fund sizes have grown in parallel with the growth of the market opportunity. We continue to provide liquidity to investors in an otherwise illiquid asset class. We believe that the combination of a growing private equity asset class, increasing appetite to actively manage private equity portfolios and our innovative structures have created strong tailwinds to our opportunity set.”

With regards to team growth, Leah Boyd, a Partner at Dawson said, “Over the past year, we have more than doubled the size of our firm.  We remained committed to scaling the business successfully alongside the market opportunity. We did so while continuing to add diverse talent to our team and remaining focused on cultivating a culture of partnership, integrity and performance.”

Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Goodmans LLP served as legal counsel for Dawson and PF4.

About Dawson Partners (“Dawson”)

Dawson, formed in 2015, is a private equity firm focused on providing structured liquidity solutions to the alternative asset class. Dawson has identified what it believes to be a significant and untapped market opportunity in the utilization of structured products to generate liquidity on private equity portfolios. Since inception, Dawson has raised over US$7.5 billion in commitments and has deployed over US$6.3 billion across over 75 transactions. For more information, please visit https://www.dawsonpartners.com.