Astorg gears up for fund VIII launch

Greg Gille
02 July 2021

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Buyout house Astorg Partners is preparing the launch of its next flagship fund, according to a regulatory filing.

The GP registered the fund in Luxembourg in late June. The timing of the launch and target remain undisclosed.

Astorg declined to comment when contacted by Unquote.

Astorg is currently deploying equity via the latest vehicle in its flagship strategy, Astorg VII, which held a final close in January 2019 on €4bn. The fund targets B2B businesses with enterprise values of more than €200m and deploys equity tickets of €100-400m.

Fund VII was likewise raised fairly shortly following its predecessor: Astorg VI held a final close in June 2016 on its €2.1bn hard-cap.

Although Astorg VII is technically still well within its investment period, it has inked a number of deals. Most recently, Astorg teamed up with Bridgepoint to buy Irish financial software company Fenergo from Insight Partners. According to The Irish Times, Bridgepoint and Astorg jointly acquired a majority stake for $600m, in a deal valuing the business at $1.165bn.

Astorg also bought French food ingredients producer Solina from Ardian; according to local publication L'Agefi, the deal valued the company at around €1.7bn.

Earlier this year, Astorg VII entered exclusive negotiations to acquire CVC's aluminium systems business Corialis for a reported €1.6-1.7bn. It also bought UK-based data automation software developer Xceptor from CBPE; Astorg clinched the asset with a bid in the region of £430m, equating to roughly 30x the company's EBITDA of £14m, two sources familiar with the situation told Mergermarket at the time. Astorg's bid was financed entirely in equity, the report added.

According to Unquote Data, the fund was 41% deployed as of March this year; it is likely that the aforementioned investments have seen this figure change significantly since then.

Overall, Astorg has inked six deals in the past 12 months, valued at an estimated aggregate of more than €5.2bn, according to Unquote Data.

Meanwhile, the GP is also fundraising for its Mid-Cap Fund, with the process expected to be finalised this summer, a source close to the situation told Unquote in March. The fund has a target of €1bn and will target mid-market deals on a pan-European basis. The fundraising process was launched in October 2020, the same source said.

The Mid-Cap strategy targets businesses with enterprise values of €150-400m, according to Astorg's website, whereas its existing strategy targets deals in the €400m-2bn range.

The Mid-Cap fund has made its first investment, acquiring UK-based legal disputes platform Opus 2 in a deal valued at around €350m, as reported by Unquote.