Siguler Guff’s secondaries head departs – exclusive

Siguler Guff‘s head of secondaries business and founder of the unit has left the firm, Secondaries Investor has learned.

Managing director Tony Cusano has departed the New York-headquartered investment firm to pursue other opportunities, a spokeswoman for Siguler Guff confirmed. The remainder of the firm’s dedicated secondaries team remains intact, she said.

Cusano ranked fourth in the 2017 Young Guns of Secondaries list of most impressive industry professionals under 36 and was described by market sources as a “rockstar”. He “lived on the road” while raising Secondary Opportunities Fund I, which closed on its $337 million hard-cap, according to Secondaries Investor data.

In 2015 Cusano became the firm’s youngest managing director, as Secondaries Investor reported. Prior to joining the firm in 2010 he worked on distressed research at StepStone where he analysed global distressed debt and special situations opportunities, according to Siguler Guff’s website.

SOF I counts Contra Costa County Employees’ Retirement Association and New Mexico Educational Retirement Board among its limited partners, according to Secondaries Investor data. The fund was fully realised earlier this year, the spokeswoman said.

SOF I delivered a 1.71x net multiple and a 44 percent net internal rate of return as of 30 September, according to a performance document from New Mexico ERB.

The US pension also invested in two secondaries-focused separately managed accounts with Siguler Guff: a 2015-vintage $50 million vehicle that delivered a 1.3x net multiple and a 49.3 percent net IRR, and a 2016-vintage $20 million fund that delivered a 1.41x net multiple and a 24.5 percent net IRR as of end-September.

Cusano did not return requests for comment.