Secondaries pioneer Coller Capital has closed its latest flagship fund on $5.5bn (€4.5bn), its largest to date and the latest in a string of vehicles targeting secondhand private equity assets. 

The firm intended to raise $5bn for Coller International Partners VI but managed to top that with commitments from more than 200 investors. Last time around it raised $5bn, which in 2007 was the biggest fund of its kind. 

The latest close comes at what founder and chief investment officer Jeremy Coller called an “exciting time” for the secondaries market. 

Axa Private Equity, which closed its latest fund on $7.1bn last month, estimates that there is between $40bn and $50bn in unwanted private equity that will need to come off banks' balance sheets over the next two years, after which other institutional investor types will need to continue pruning their portfolios.

Meanwhile, placement agent Triago estimates that there is around $44bn in unspent capital earmarked for the secondaries market and believes the industry is on course to raise a record $26bn in 2012.

Backing up these supply and demand figures, Coller's recent Global Private Equity Barometer found that, at 63 per cent, an unprecedented number of LPs intend to tap the market over the next two to three years.

As well as Coller and Axa, CS Strategic Partners, the dedicated secondaries arm of Credit Suisse, rounded off its fifth fund on $2.9bn in February. 

Meanwhile, Lexington Partners broke the fundraising record last year when it collected $7bn in July, only to be outdone by Axa last month.  

Coller has already invested $800m from its sixth fund, buying Crédit Agricole Private Equity from its French banking parent in December. 

The niche investor is believed to have agreed to take £800m (€1bn) worth of LP fund positions off Lloyds' books earlier this month, although it's not clear what fund that rumoured investment came from.