The Partners of Lonsdale Capital Partners, Alan Dargan, Ross Finegan and David Gasparro, have closed the firm’s first fund, Lonsdale Capital Partners LP, at its target and hard-cap amount of GBP110 million.
The fund reached its final close after nine months of fundraising.
Lonsdale’s fund will continue to invest at the smaller end of the mid-market, in UK and European companies with an enterprise value of between GBP10 million-GBP50 million. Lonsdale will invest GBP10-15 million of equity (including add-on acquisitions) per transaction, taking a majority stake in strong, proven businesses.
Between 2008 and late 2015, Lonsdale invested on a deal-by-deal basis and decided to raise its first fund in response to demand from existing and potential new investors.
Lonsdale’s first fund has attracted interest from a close knit group of investors from Europe and the US, of which 80% comprise pension funds, fund of funds and family offices. The remaining 20% has been committed by HNW individuals from Lonsdale’s network, many of whom previously participated in deal-by-deal investments led by Lonsdale, as well as the firm’s own partners.
Lonsdale has completed nine principal investments to date, and within the last twelve months has acquired majority stakes in the management buyouts of the Global Yachting Group, Ocean Media Group, and Nutrisure. Lonsdale has also achieved two successful exits in the oil and gas sector and the education/publishing sector, OEG and CJ Fallon, which represented returns in line with Lonsdale’s target of 3-5x MOC.
The founding partners of Lonsdale, says: “We are very pleased to have this support from both our existing long-term investors, and also several new investor relationships from Europe and the US. We are now actively looking to invest in UK and European cash generative businesses and already have a strong pipeline of opportunities to explore.”
Lonsdale Capital Partners was founded in 2008 by Alan Dargan, Ross Finegan and David Gasparro who combined their experience of the private equity, advisory and asset management sectors. They decided to focus on the smaller end of the mid-market due to the abundance of well managed and growing companies, which can be acquired at sensible multiples.
