First close for Dow Schofield Watts’ first fund

DARESBURY-based corporate finance firm Dow Schofield Watts has reached a first close of £4.68m on its first private equity fund.

PHD Equity Partners Fund No. 1 LP is open to external investors and will be capped at £10m. A final close is expected by the end of 2009.

The existing commitments are from all of the partners of Dow Schofield Watts, the fund’s chairman Lord Daresbury and a “significant number” of private individual investors.

The fund will make most of its initial investments in the £250,000 to £1m range, focusing on transactions of £2m to £10m in size. It will, however, invest in larger transactions through co-investment opportunities with other private equity funds.
 
Once it is fully invested, the fund is expected to comprise a portfolio of approximately 12 investments.

The fund has already made two investments: a co-investment with a North West-based fund and a London based buy-in management buyout.
 
Law firm O’Connor’s, in Liverpool, advised the fund.