Private Equity giant targets NW opportunities after €4bn capital raise
A private equity firm which has announced the closing of its ninth institutional flagship fund is aiming to target North West businesses for investment.
Waterland Private Equity Investments, which has a Manchester office, closed the Waterland Private Equity Fund IX (WPEF IX) at €3.5bn, alongside Waterland Partnership Fund I (WPF I) at €500m. The funds closed at their respective hard caps four months after initial launch.
The fundraise attracted commitments from world class institutional investors globally.
The investor base for both funds is well diversified by geography, consisting of investors across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
By investor type it consists of asset managers, public and private pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations and family offices, amongst others.
Both funds were oversubscribed with demand significantly exceeding the fundraising targets. This is attributable to continued strong support from existing investors combined with significant interest from new investors.
WPEF IX expects to make investments in medium-sized companies in fragmented growth markets in Europe to finance organic and acquisitive growth.
This is a continuation of the successful buy-and-build investment strategy applied to the firm’s prior funds over the last two decades.
WPF I is a natural extension of the Waterland platform. WPF I expects to make minority investments in a very select number of Waterland portfolio companies when these are exited.
Frank Vlayen, group managing partner, said: “The fundraisings for WPEF IX and WPF I have been a great success in a challenging fundraising market.
“It is a significant achievement for us to have closed both funds in just four months. We remain thankful for the strong support of our existing and new investors and their confidence in our team and strategy. We look forward to making investments with both funds and continue to see many attractive opportunities in our target region despite the volatile macro environment.”
Cedric Van Cauwenberghe, incoming group managing partner, who will succeed Frank Vlayen later this year, said: “We are grateful and humbled by this strong vote of confidence by our investors. We are looking forward to partnering closely with ambitious management teams across Europe to jointly execute buy-and-build programmes.
“We will also continue to invest in our own firm to further strengthen our position as a leading local buy-and-build investor in Europe across our integrated network of 13 European offices.”
Marc Lutgen, head of investor relations, said: “We are grateful for the strong support from existing and new LPs for this dual fundraise, despite the challenges faced by many investors in the past year. We look forward to a fruitful partnership as we strive to continue to deliver exceptional returns for our investors.”
Evercore Private Funds Group acted as the global strategic fundraising adviser for Waterland. Kirkland & Ellis International acted as the global legal, tax and regulatory counsel. De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek NV acted as Dutch legal and regulatory counsel. Matheson acted as Irish legal, tax and regulatory counsel.
Waterland currently manages more than €14bn of investor commitments and has made in excess of 950 acquisitions, including around 150 platform investments and 800 add-ons.
The investor has a Europe-wide network of offices, including a UK operation in London and in Station Road, Wilmslow.
