Ropes & Gray Advised EQT on Landmark Acquisition of Coller Capital

Ropes & Gray has advised EQT on its acquisition of global secondaries firm Coller Capital, one of the world’s largest dedicated secondaries platforms with $49 billion in total assets under management.

The deal, which has a purchase price of $3.2 billion, is understood to be the largest-ever secondaries fund manager acquisition.  It brings together EQT’s global scale, multi-strategy platform and active ownership model with Coller Capital’s specialist secondaries expertise, data and analytics – developed over a 35-year history – and a track record of consistently delivering strong investment performance and innovative solutions across secondaries. The combination advances EQT’s ambition to build the most attractive, scaled private markets firm, delivering industry-leading performance and solutions globally.

Headquartered in the UK, Coller Capital provides liquidity solutions to both general partners and limited partners, investing across private equity secondaries and private credit secondaries.  It has a global team of 330 professionals, including 77 investment professionals, based in 11 offices around the world.  It offers a diversified client proposition spanning institutional funds, private wealth evergreen products and insurance-dedicated solutions.

Private markets are shaped by broader demand for strategic liquidity tools, longer-term ownership models, and continued product innovation. This reinforces the strategic importance of secondaries which, as a market, grew 41% in 2025, with deal volumes reaching $226 billion, and is expected to more than double by 2030.  

The Ropes & Gray team was led by partners Ariel Deckelbaum, Shona Ha, Elizabeth Langton and Neill Jakobe with support from associates Hayley Stokes-White, Luke Wetmore, Alex Pattisson, Michael Augustyn, Michael Asprou and trainee Lauren Aurelius.  Other members of the team included partners Scott Abramowitz (private equity transactions), Ruchit Patel, Ama Adams (litigation & enforcement), Chris Agnoli, Chris Roman (tax), Jennifer Cormier (employment, executive compensation and employee benefits), Peter Laybourn, Katherine Waite, Eve Ellis, Nicole Krea, and Jordan Altman (IP); associates Charlie Critchley, Connor Stevens, Katie Fielding, Junsuk Lee (litigation & enforcement), Charlie Voisey (tax), Madeline Cooper, Sophie Duffy (employment, executive compensation and employee benefits), Jonas Madsen, Andrew McCall, Aliza Dominey, Tegan Shyne (asset management), Jacob Green (IP) and trainee Nyah Clark.

“We congratulate EQT and Coller Capital on successfully completing this landmark transaction and are proud to have supported EQT throughout the process,” said Neill Jakobe, private equity transactions partner and vice-chair of Ropes & Gray.

“This deal underscores the growing trend of consolidation within the asset management industry and demonstrates Ropes & Gray’s ability to deliver the strategic, cross-border advice clients need to navigate their most complex transactions,” said Ariel Deckelbaum, global co-head of asset management M&A at Ropes & Gray.  

And Shona Ha, private equity transactions partner, in Ropes & Gray’s London office, said: “Our central role in this matter, as well as our continued growth across Europe in 2025, further reinforces our position as a leading advisor for clients seeking guidance on sophisticated deals across Europe and around the world.”