BPE 4 holds final close on €135m

Harriet Matthews
29 April 2020

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BPE held a final close for its fourth fund on its hard-cap of €135m in March 2020, following its first close in December 2019 on €122m.

P+P Pöllath and Partners advised on the fundraise.

The fund is larger than the GP's predecessor vehicle, BPE 3, which held a final close on its hard-cap of €125m in February 2014 and is currently 80% deployed.

Investors
The vehicle's LP base includes family offices, funds-of-funds, insurance companies and German entrepreneurs. Around 70% of its total commitments at the first close came from German entrepreneurs, including managers from past BPE-backed MBIs. The vehicle received re-ups from approximately two thirds of the investors in BPE 3 at the first close.

The minimum LP commitment was €500,000, but the vehicle allowed a reduced minimum commitment for former MBI managers. No single investor committed more than 15% of total volume to the vehicle.

Investments
The fund made its first investment in the MBO of Dätwyler Sealing Technologies Deutschland in April 2020, as reported by Unquote. The company is considering add-on acquisitions of market peers in European countries, including Italy and Spain.

The vehicle writes equity cheques of €5-15m, with flexibility to commit up to €25m in total equity for add-on acquisitions per platform investment. The fund will hold back around 10-20% for add-ons or financing to support its portfolio companies.

The vehicle is following a similar investment strategy to the firm's previous vehicles, targeting Germany-based Mittelstand companies with revenues of €15-70m. The firm will seek add-ons for its portfolio companies with lower revenue figures; for example, when seeking bolt-ons for a portfolio company with revenues of €20m, it could target companies with sales of €2-5m.

The GP specialises in MBOs and MBIs. BPE also invests as part of succession solutions.

People
BPE Partners – Aman Miran Khan, Stephan Gummert, Nikolai Mackscheidt, Nikolaus Winther (managing partners); Andreas Odefey (advising partner); Raphael Nitz (investment manager).