Astorg hits €1.3bn hard cap for first dedicated mid-cap fund

The European private equity fund manager Astorg closed its first dedicated mid-cap fund at its hard cap of $1.48bn. Due to strong investor demand, the fund has exceeded its initial target of €1bn to hit its hard cap.

According to a press release from the PE firm with €15 billion of assets under management, Astorg mid-cap was launched under the leadership of Managing Partners Lionel de Posson and Edouard Pillot to address the European middle-market for buyouts, which has been Astorg’s core expertise since the firm’s foundation in 1998.

The fund seeks to invest in European-based, global B2B niche leaders that benefit from secular and resilient growth as well as attractive and profitable business models, it said.

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“Astorg strongly believes in responsible investing and has set up Astorg mid-cap as an Article 8 Fund, promoting ESG undertakings which are fully integrated to its policies and processes,” said the release.

Thierry Timsit, CEO of Astorg, said: “Starting from a blank page but embarking 24 years of platform experience, it was very rewarding to design our inaugural mid-cap fund with what we believe to be the key success factors of a middle-market European fund: a diverse “native” Pan-European team, a focused strategy leveraging on the platform’s sector expertise, strong digital tools, and corporate functions, and advanced ESG policies. Lionel and Edouard have done an extraordinary “intrapreneur” job and impersonate the firm’s values. I am also grateful to our loyal base of limited partners for the outstanding support they have provided.”

Astorg mid-cap is backed by a global and diverse investor base, including public and corporate pension funds (25%), institutional asset managers (28%), insurance companies (18%), Sovereign Wealth Funds (4%), and other institutional and high-net-worth investors (25%), located in Europe (70%), North America (18%), Middle East (7%) and Asia (5%). Investors include a combination of longstanding Astorg limited partners as well as new investors for Astorg.

The fund has made two investments since its formation thereby investing 20% of the fund. First, in Opus 2 (UK), a leading provider of integrated legal tech software and services for the global litigation and arbitration markets. More recently in Armor-IIMAK (France), the global leader in industrial thermal printing ribbons, alongside the company’s management team. Both deals generated co-investment opportunities for the fund LPs, consistent with Astorg’s approach.

Source: Opalsque

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