European private equity firm Cinven has held the final closing of its fifth European buyout fund with total commitments of EUR5bn. The new fund represents the largest pool of capital currently dedicated exclusively for European buyouts.
Previous funds have seen strong performance, returning 41 per cent gross IRR on 82 realised investments since 1988.
Fund 5 is 14 per cent committed following its investments in Pronet, Prezioso, Mercury Pharma and Amdipharm.
Hugh Langmuir (pictured), managing partner of Cinven Partners, says: “We are very pleased with the level of support from our investors. Our successful fundraising demonstrates the confidence they have in our abilities to continue finding attractive investment opportunities across Europe, despite the challenging macroeconomic environment. We have constantly stated that the Fifth Cinven Fund does not represent a ‘macro Europe’ investment opportunity but a ‘micro’ one – finding individual Europe-based companies with strong growth potential either globally or in their domestic markets.
“Our consistent strategy throughout the last 25 years has enabled us to generate strong returns and has also been highly attractive to LPs. We believe the size of our current fund is appropriate for the market opportunity and the level of deal flow we are currently seeing.”
Alexandra Hess, partner of Cinven Partners with responsibility for fundraising and IR, says: “We have maintained a consistent investment strategy that plays to our experience and expertise in the European market; investors have welcomed this. Furthermore, in the last couple of years, we have continued to make new investments and realise assets at attractive returns – all against a challenging European back drop.
“We have continued to attract commitments from longstanding investors as well as bring in new investors. Our early investments in Fund 5 provided great visibility on the opportunities we see in the European market and our ability to execute on them. We continue to see both good deal flow as well as an exit pipeline.”
