Northern Europe private equity firm EQT Partners has reached final close of its middle market fund at €1.1 billion ($1.49 billion), above its initial target of €1 billion, according to a company announcement.
The fund will primarily focus on middle market buyouts and growth equity investments in Northern Europe, Greater China and Southeast Asia.
Deal flow is expected to primarily come from family and entrepreneur owned businesses, corporate orphans and public-to-private transactions.
The typical transaction value ranges between €80 million and €150 million in Northern Europe and between €80 million and €200 million in Greater China and Southeast Asia.
The fund has already invested in five companies, including German gallery network and online retailer of photographic art Avenso, Swiss dental chain Swiss Smile, fiber based data communication provider IP-Only in Sweden, German quick service food market BackWerk, and China F&B, operator of Dairy Queen and Papa John’s Pizza in China.
EQT says that 95% of the capital committed is from existing EQT investors. In terms of geography, 51% of the fund commitments is from institutional investors in the Nordic region, 22% from the rest of Europe, 16% from North America and 11% from Asia.
The fund is to be advised by a team of 35 investment professionals based in Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Warsaw and Zurich, led by Jan Ståhlberg, one of the founders and deputy managing partner of EQT.
The team has cumulatively advised on more than 30 middle market transactions in prior EQT funds with an aggregated transaction value of over €3.4 billion.
EQT is established in 1994 and has raised over €25 billion across 16 funds.
