Mid-market private equity firm ECI Partners has closed its 12th buyout fund at a hard cap of £1 billion, beating its target of £900 million.
Despite the private equity fundraising doldrums over the past 12 months, it marks a more than 40% increase on its £700m predecessor fund. It also has a strong re-up rate of 95% from existing investors.
ECI 12 has also attracted around £300m of new capital, with high quality investors from across the globe, including North American pension plans, European foundations as well as capital from Asia.
“This is our biggest ever fund, and we’re particularly proud to have exceeded our target and to be oversubscribed, given the difficulties the fundraising market is currently experiencing,” said Chris Watt, managing partner.
“This is a reflection of our ability to generate market leading returns, with particular success across our last three fund vintages. Ultimately it is testament to the firm and the team’s ability to identify high-growth, resilient companies, and to support fantastic management teams to drive sustainable growth.
“We are incredibly grateful to the large proportion of existing investors for their continued support, many of whom have entrusted us with their capital for over 30 years. We’re also delighted to have secured several new international investors and look forward to building long-standing strategic relationships with them.”
Tom Wrenn, managing partner, added: “Resilience is more important than ever in today’s economic climate, so with our new fund we’re going to continue our successful formula of looking for resilient business models and fantastic management teams operating in high growth markets.
“This will be our 12th single strategy fund with consistent fund on fund growth, demonstrating our significant experience understanding how to help these businesses grow, whether that’s organically or through M&A, in the UK or at a global scale.
“As a case in point, we recently announced our largest ever investment – €300 million – in Commify, the European leader in business messaging solutions to Local Enterprises. The investment will help drive the company’s expansion through further acquisitions in both new European markets and in the US.”