Switzerland’s Pictet Alternative Advisors has raised $320 million in the final close of its private equity fund of funds to invest in healthcare-focused general partners (GPs) globally.

The fund, which initially targeted to raise $300 million, has already deployed capital in biotech- and healthcare-focused venture capital, growth, and buyout funds globally.

The private equity strategy targets investments in therapeutics, diagnostics, digital health, medical technology and healthcare and services providers, aiming to create a diversified portfolio of private healthcare companies.

“Recent years have emphasised both the importance of, and the potential for, healthcare, from the rapid development of COVID vaccines to innovations in weight-loss treatments. We have excellent relationships with the best healthcare-focused private equity GPs, and our ability to leverage our deep expertise in the field to partner with them is revealing extremely exciting opportunities,” said Pierre Stadler, head of thematics for private equity at Pictet Alternative Advisors.

“We continue to see compelling opportunities in companies delivering great solutions for unmet medical needs, coupled with a strong appetite from strategic pharma companies for M&A,” said Yann Mauron ​ and David Braga Malta, managers of the thematic private equity health strategy.  

“This is driven by larger groups’ record-high amounts of available cash and a severe patent cliff they face over the next decade, which will force them to acquire private pioneers in the most promising segments,” they added.

Pictet last year launched a thematic franchise that invests across three main themes: technology, health, and environment. The franchise has collected $950 million from institutional and high-net-worth investors. 

DealStreetAsia reported in November that the investment group is now in the market to raise the second vintage for its technology-focused fund and nearing the final close of the environment-themed fund of up to $250 million, which could happen as soon as in the first three months of 2024.

Since its first private equity investment almost 30 years ago, Pictet has committed to more than 150 private equity funds and participated in more than 300 co-investments of which 141 have been realised, generating a multiple of 2.82x on invested capital.

Pictet Group’s alternative investment unit manages $25.4 billion in private equity, which is the largest portion out of the overall $38.3 billion, as of December-end 2022.