Kempen Capital Management has held the final close of the Kempen European Private Equity Fund, at EUR192.5 million in committed capital, bringing the fund to its maximum capacity.
‘We are enormously proud of the confidence that our participants have entrusted us with,’ says Sven Smeets, co-head Private Markets. ‘At the start of the year, we passionately started working to make this fund a success. Following the first close in February 2019, now – fewer than ten months later – we are already announcing the final close, as the fund has reached its maximum capacity. We will spend all our energy in the coming period into sourcing new deals and expanding the investment portfolio.’
The Kempen European Private Equity Fund focuses on the small and lower mid-market buy-out segment of the European private equity market. It is a hybrid investment fund that combines investments in private equity partnerships with direct co-investments in companies. Approximately half of the target portfolio comprises direct co-investments. We have chosen for this hybrid investment fund combination to ensure proper risk diversification.
Marvin de Jong, director Private Markets, says: ‘Our talks with investors have led to many participants actively contributing ideas and getting closely involved in our portfolio companies. In doing so, they contribute to further value creation in the future. The portfolio of the Kempen European Private Equity Fund already holds several direct investments into companies, that were sourced from this network. A good example of such a company is Avion Group BV, a Dutch developer and manufacturer of high-tech full motion flight simulators. Moreover, we have already sourced a number of add-on acquisitions for our existing portfolio companies this year. The leads to most of these add-ons were also generated by our network. This underlines the symbiotic strength and value of the fund and the network. In the coming years we intend to participate in stable, profitable companies with attractive growth potential in order to put our clients’ commitments to work effectively.’
