Maguar Capital Partners (Maguar) has held the final closing of its debut fund, Maguar I, at its EUR104 million hard cap.
Despite challenging market conditions, the Maguar 1 fund attracted significantly more demand than it could accept, and was oversubscribed with commitments from leading European and US-based institutional investors, such as Aberdeen Standard Investments, Adams Street, Commonfund, Bregal, Golding or the European Investment Fund (EIF), various family offices as well as a significant GP team commitment.
Founded by the software entrepreneurs Gunther Thies and Matthias Ick, as well as the private equity investor Arno Poschik, Maguar exclusively invests in small cap software companies in the DACH region. It focuses on supporting profitable, growing, and founder-run businesses, by leveraging the Maguar team’s own long-term experience as CEOs, founders and investors in the sector.
Maguar has already successfully completed two high-quality investments, which are the cornerstones of the Fund: in September 2020, Maguar acquired HRworks, a growing SME-focussed HR software business based in Freiburg. In addition, Maguar, jointly with another PE firm, recently completed an investment into STP Informationstechnologie, a leading German legal tech business based in Karlsruhe.
“We are very grateful for the trust of this distinct group of high-profile investors backing Maguar’s first-time fund,” says Matthias Ick.
Gunther Thies adds: “As we raised the fund, it was gratifying to see that our model works – a very clear and software-focussed investment strategy paired with a complementary team structure based on our common passion for technology. This is clearly differentiating and adds substantial credibility when it comes to partnering with founders and management teams.”
Arno Poschik says: “Maguar’s acquisition of HRworks helped to attract interest of LPs and proved that we deliver on what we promise: investing in high-quality small cap software companies and supporting them to reach the next level of growth and performance. Our goal is to become the leading software investor in the small cap segment in the DACH region.”
Marc Nicolson, Head of Primary Investments Aberdeen Standard Investments, says: “From our first conversations, we could see that the Maguar team had a unique proposition, combining their core expertise as software entrepreneurs and investors. We view Maguar as one of the most exciting emerging managers in Europe and are delighted to have backed them in both their first transaction in HRworks and a phenomenal first fund raising for Maguar I”.
Clifford Chance Deutschland PmbB, Munich served as legal counsel and RDT Dr Dautel acted as tax advisor for Maguar.
