Unigestion's Direct Opportunities Fund holds first close on €100m

The GP started fundraising during H2 2015 and hopes to hold a final close for the Luxembourg-domiciled vehicle at the €200m hard-cap during the second half of this year. Unigestion does not work with a placing agent and has Arendt working on the legal side.  

UDO 2015 follows on from Unigestion Secondaries Opportunities Fund 3, which held its final close in April last year. 

Investors
UDO 2015 has attracted investor support from both existing and new LPs at first close, including UK investors North East Scotland Pension Fund and Clwyd Pension Fund.

The GP hopes to attract institutional investors such as insurance companies and pension funds from the UK, Germany, Switzerland and Finland. 

Investments
UDO 2015 seeks to invest in 12-15 companies around the world that operate in the small and mid-market, with enterprise values of less than €1bn. The fund has no sector focus, but Unigestion stated it has a historical preference for energy, healthcare and financial services.   

The GP expects to invest 40-60% in Europe, 40-50% in North America and 10-30% in Asia and the rest of the world, deploying €10-20m per transaction. 

Two investments for UDO 2015 have been completed so far. The first was Zennor Petroleum, a UK-based oil and gas company that specialises in development of hydrocarbons in the North Sea. Unigestion invested in Zennor alongside oil and gas sector specialist Kerogen Capital.

The second investment from the fund was in US-based BioreclamationIVT, a provider of biological products used in drug discovery research by life sciences and pharma companies.

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• Topics
• Funds
• Buyout
• Mid-market buyout