Andera to close WC4 on €450m

Francesca Veronesi
26 November 2018

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France-based GP Andera Partners has held a €450m final close for the fourth generation of its Winch Capital funds, according to press reports.

Winch Capital 4 (WC4) surpassed its €400m hard-cap, according to two French publications, Capital Finance and AGEFI.

Andera could not be reached at the time of publication.

Launched in Q4 2017, the fund's original target amounted to €350m, with a hard-cap of €400m. The fund held a €360m first close this summer.

WC4 significantly surpassed the size of its predecessor, Winch Capital 3, which closed on €300m in 2013. The fund has been fully deployed since June, Unquote previously reported.

Backers of WC3 that have committed to its successor include the European Investment Fund, BPI France, Sogecap, BNP Paribas Cardif, UMR and MACSF. Most of these LPs committed either the same amount provided for Winch Capital 3 or more.

This summer, Unquote reported that institutional investors (funds-of-funds, insurance companies, and institutions de prévoyance) were responsible for the majority of commitments, with the remainder coming from family offices and high-net-worth individuals. At the time, the GP disclosed it would try to internationalise the LP base of the vehicle, aiming for around 20% from outside France.

Edmond de Rothschild Group, a former LP of Winch Capital 3, is not recommitting this time around.

Winch Capital 4 intends to back SMEs primarily in France and Italy, and occasionally elsewhere in Europe. Portfolio companies will be valued in the €30-300m range. Andera will acquire either a minority or majority stake, providing equity tickets between €12-40m, with the capacity to structure additional rounds of financing of up to €80m.

Originally specialised in the acquisition of minority stakes via its Winch vehicles, Andera did more majority stake investments with Winch 3, where a third of investments were majority stakes.

The vehicle's first investment was the buyout of France-based Skill & You, a distance learning specialist, for which it provided a €30m investment.