Argos Soditic caps Euroknights VII at €520m

Despite the fact this latest Euroknights fund has raised 30% more than its 2011-vintage predecessor, the GP's plan had been to raise more, with a cap originally set at €550m.

However, following discussions with key LPs committing to the new vehicle, the cap was reduced, leading to it being significantly oversubscribed. Indeed, a small number of LPs that had not hard-circled commitments sufficiently early in the fundraising process were not able to complete once the cap had been scaled back.

As far as terms are concerned, according to Argos Soditic partner Guy Semmens, there has been little or no shift in the key commercial terms from the fund's predecessor, and these are described as industry standard for a mid-cap vehicle of its size. Weil Gotshal & Manges provided legal advice to the fund.

Argos Soditic was founded in 1989 and has 47 staff based in six offices in Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Luxembourg, Milan and Paris.

Investors
According to a statement from Argos Soditic, the group's investor base has expanded thanks to commitments from important global LPs that had not backed predecessor funds. In fact, the ratio of new to re-up capital (typically in the region of 20/80) was slightly more skewed towards new relationships, highlighting the volatile LP environment. 

The percentage of money committed by funds-of-funds also dropped to 24%, with pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies being the other main contributors (24%, 17% and 16% respectively). 

Geographically, 41% of the capital was raised from European LPs, with a further 34% from Asian, Australasian and Middle Eastern investors, and the balance from North America. The contribution from Asia-Pacific grew in this latest fundraise, boosted by a major commitment from Australian LP, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC), which provided the largest single commitment at around 10% of the fund's total, according to unquote" data. 

Other major backers include US LPs AT&T Pension Benefit Plan and the Employees Retirement System of Texas, as well as Primapen KGK from Europe. 

The GP contributed 2.5% of the total capital raised.

Investments
As was reported at the time of the first close that Euroknights VII will stick closely to the GP's core focus, concentrating on smaller and mid-market buyouts involving European companies; the GP will also retain its leaning towards more unconventional or complex transactions, often sourced off-market. That said, the increase in fund size for Euroknights VII is expected to translate to larger equity tickets: average commitments from the fund are likely to be in the €30-35m range, though they could equally be as high as €50m or as low as €10m. The potential for co-investments from some of the fund's LPs could allow it to take on larger deals than it has in the past if the opportunities arose.

Euroknights VII is already 33% committed in five deals, including the buyouts of Revima, Lampes Berger and Zodiac Milpro in France, Future Groep in the Netherlands, and Gruppo Fabbri Vignola in Italy.

People
Argos Soditic – Guy Semmens (managing partner).

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