Coller Capital's Jake Elmhirst - secondaries coming in first: AGM Live at SuperReturn

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

We sat down with Jake Elmhirst, Partner, Head of Private Wealth Secondaries Solutions and Head of Capital Formation at Coller Capital.

We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.

With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.

Coller Capital has been a pioneer in the rapidly growing secondaries market. Coller’s tagline? “First in secondaries.” 

Coller might be “first in secondaries.” The industry they focus on has moved to the forefront of private markets. Secondaries are coming in first for many LPs, in part because secondaries are now an active portfolio management solution for LPs (LP-led secondaries) and a way for LPs and GPs to continue to invest in the growth and value appreciation of some of their funds’ best assets (GP-led secondaries). 

The firm completed its first secondaries transaction in 1990 and its first GP-led investment in 1996. Today, Coller has $55B in AUM (as of 3/31/26). 

Jake joined Coller after a long career at UBS, where he partnered with Coller from a few different vantage points co-founding and co-leading the Private Funds Group within UBS Investment Bank and leading the Private Markets effort within UBS Global Wealth Management. His perspective on Coller was very much a reason why he decided to leave his farm in Yorkshire (as a 23rd generation farmer!) to join Coller as they build out their wealth efforts.

Jake and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of secondaries and how they are increasingly “solutions” for LPs and GPs. We covered:

Jake’s experience witnessing the rise of the early days of private markets and how that’s shaped how he thinks about secondaries today.Why secondaries are becoming “solutions” for LPs and GPs.Why secondaries can be a core portfolio holding.The features of secondaries. The drivers of the increase in LP-led sales.Why have GP-led continuation vehicles become a popular solution?Why secondaries make sense for private wealth investors.

Bio

Jake is a Partner and Head of Private Wealth Secondaries Solutions and Head of Capital Formation. He is based in the firm’s London office.

Prior to joining Coller Capital in April 2022, Jake spent 25 years at UBS where he led the Private Markets effort within UBS Global Wealth Management, based in London. Prior to that, Jake co-founded and co-led the Private Funds Group within UBS Investment Bank, based in New York.

He previously worked at Freshfields in London, where he qualified as a solicitor working in the Tax Team with a focus on collective investment schemes.

Jake has a degree in Law (LLB) from the University of Bristol.

Jake Elmhirst is a registered representative of Parallel Distributors LLC.

Thanks, Jake, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion in private markets, private wealth, and secondaries.

Show Notes
 

00:00 Live in Berlin Intro

00:39 Jake Elmhirst’s Career Journey

02:08 Wealth Channel Lessons

05:06 Farming Roots Detour

07:34 Secondaries Liquidity Fix

09:26 Continuation Vehicles Impact

11:21 Wealth Channel and Scale

13:21 Why Secondaries Work

15:15 Core Holding for Wealth

16:31 Discount Versus Quality

18:43 Underwriting in CV Era

20:56 Evergreen Portfolio Mix

21:56 Future of Solutions

23:02 Toolbox Expansion Ideas

24:55 Why Scale Matters

25:53 Discount Nuance Explained

27:30 Active Portfolio Management

28:45 Closing Thoughts