Health Super has acquired legacy private equity assets from another super fund as it seeks opportunities in the domestic market through a Canberra-based manager.

Brendon Shepherd, CIO at the $10 billion fund, said Health Super had retained Continuity Capital Management to investigate opportunities in local private equity and the manager had executed “an attractive deal” with UniSuper.

The transaction, believed to have been a secondaries acquisition from UniSuper’s existing private equity portfolio, was undertaken earlier this month.

Shepherd declined to reveal the size of the transaction.

It is understood the deal represents the first substantial piece of business for Continuity since it was founded a year ago by Ovideo Iglesias, who was formerly the boss of Wilshire’s private equity fund-of-fund business in Australia.

Meanwhile, Shepherd, who resigned in November last year ahead of the merger with First State Super, has been re-hired by Health Super in an advisory role.

He relocated to Perth in January, and has been commuting between WA and the eastern seabaord to assist the fund in its merger with First State Super, which is due for completion on June 30.

Shepherd resigned from Health Super in October 2008 to spend more time with his young family, and then re-joined in January 2009 when an extra resource was hired to help with his workload.