Capvis sets up first ever continuation vehicle for fund III assets

Capvis was advised by Asante on the transaction. Stephenson Harwood and Latham & Watkins served as legal counsel to Capvis, while Hogan Lovells represented Eurazeo and Committed Advisors. EY acted as tax adviser for Capvis.

The continuation vehicle will take on the three remaining portfolio companies pf Cavis Equity III. Hessnatur is a German eco-fashion company with a focus on sustainability; Arena is a global producer of swimwear and swimming equipment; and Kaffee Partner is a distributor of coffee and water dispensing machines in the DACH region.

As part of the transaction, existing investors in Capvis III were provided with the choice to receive full liquidity or to fully or partially re-invest into the new vehicle.

Capvis closed Capvis Equity III on EUR 608m in early 2008. The fund's lifespan was set at 10 years with a two-year extension.

According to Unquote Data, commitments were secured from more than 40 institutional investors with approximately 35% coming from Swiss institutions, 40% from the rest of Europe, 20% from North America and 5% from the rest of the world. In terms of diversification among investor type, 20% of the commitments came from public and corporate pension funds, 10% from endowments/family offices, 30% from financial institutions and 40% from funds-of-funds.

Capvis Equity III took controlling equity interests in company spin-offs, succession solutions and shareholder buyouts of mid-sized companies, typically with EUR 50m-400m in enterprise value. Investments were made in the DACH region, with an emphasis on Switzerland.

Kaffee Partner was acquired in 2010, Hessnatur in 2012 and Arena in 2013.

Capvis has since raised two other funds. Its latest, Capvis Equity V, closed on its hard-cap on EUR 1.2bn in 2018.

The fund III transaction continues a streak of activity in the GP-led secondaries space, with a number of continuation funds set up for single assets. In June, BC Partners formed a new single-asset acquisition fund with commitments of more than EUR 1bn to buy publishing house Springer Nature, which the GP acquired in 2013 via its 2011-vintage BC European Capital Fund IX (BCEC IX). Prior to that, HPE Growth formed a single-asset continuation vehicle for cross-border payments platform PPro in a GP-led deal backed by firms including Adams Street and Coller Capital, as reported; and in March 2021, Ergon formed a special purpose vehicle for its fire protection systems business SVT, as reported.

Eurazeo itself received EUR 340m of additional commitments for its Eurazeo growth strategy in February from both returning investors and new LPs. The GP set up a continuation fund to acquire a 32% stake in Eurazeo Growth assets that were originally financed through the Eurazeo balance sheet.

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• Topics
• Secondaries
• DACH
• Capvis AG
• Secondaries
• Asante Capital
• Eurazeo