Amundi PEF targets two more 2020 deals following Megatendances II close

The GP was initially looking to hold a first close for institutional investors at the end of March, but the France-wide lockdown pushed that to the end of Q2, Cuny told Unquote.

Megatendances II was launched at the end of last year, and is structured into several vehicles to attract both retail and institutional investors.

The first-close amount remains undisclosed. Unquote previously reported that Amundi PEF was initially eyeing a first close on around half of the fund's €500m target. The GP is aiming for a €300m/€200m split between institutional investors and retail investors.

The fundraise is open to retail clients via a network of French banks and life insurance providers; the subscription period for retail clients will run until June 2021, Cuny said, having been extended from the initial December 2020 timeframe. The institutional compartment could remain open until the end of 2021, unless the fund's hard-cap is reached before that.

The vehicle will follow a strategy similar to its predecessor. It will take active minority stakes in growth capital and buyout transactions of private SMEs in France (at least 50% of deployment) and in the rest of the eurozone (maximum 50%). Target companies will generate revenues of €20m-1.5bn with EBITDA of more than €3m. The average investment ticket will be €10-50m per transaction. The fund will target a gross IRR of 18% per transaction.

The portfolio will aim to include 15-25 companies in total. Businesses will have to demonstrate they benefit from the impact of five global trends identified by Amundi: technology, demographic change, environment, globalisation, and social changes.

"The 'mega-trends' that our strategy focuses on have been very defensive in the current context – as evidenced by the fact that the first fund has gone through the recent crisis unscathed, with no negative impact on the portfolio," Cuny said. "If anything, we expect performance to accelerate as we get out of the crisis, because the sectors we target have seen demand for their products and services increase significantly, as behaviours have been radically changed by the pandemic."

Amundi PEF has already financed two deals through the retail compartment of the fund: WiFirst and Vivalto Vie. Cuny said the firm has four deals at an advanced stage in the pipeline, and would therefore expect to be able to close a couple of transactions before year-end. "The pipeline completely dried up during lockdown, but things started improving in June and dealflow really picked up in September," he added.

The first Megatendances programme raised €320m in 2018, against a target of €250m. The first-generation programme had been used in 18 transactions for an 85% deployment rate as of the end of Q1 2020. Portfolio companies include DL Software, Crosscall and WiFirst.

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