Apera goes high-tech with Solvency II response

Apera Capital, the newly formed European private debt firm, has put fund reporting technology high on its agenda with a platform that it claims is the first of its kind.

Apera believes the platform, created by software developer Black Mountain and fund administrator SEI, is the first cloud-based platform used by a European manager that can reconcile complex underlying loan, fund and company data on a weekly basis.

The firm thinks the inability of the asset class generally to provide detailed and timely reconciliation of loan data is becoming a barrier to investors making commitments to GPs.

One particular requirement, as a result of the Solvency II Directive, is that some investors need to incorporate ‘look-through’ reporting, which Apera’s platform includes.

There is an increasing focus on reporting and technology requirements in private debt due to increased operational complexity, especially for pan-European funds in the face of multi-jurisdictional, structural, legal, tax and regulatory developments.

“Legacy systems are struggling to cope with the complexity of credit investment portfolio accounting and adequately monitor the high volume of transactions, which is now required to enable investors to properly manage risk,” Apera CFO Rob Shaw told PDI.

Apera, which was launched towards the end of last year by former BlueBay partner Klaus Petersen, is targeting mid-market opportunities in the UK, France and DACH region.

It is understood from sources to be raising a first fund with a target of around €650 million, but the firm itself declines to comment on fundraising.