Astorg cuts flagship fundraising target with EUR 4bn raised

Min Ho
13 June 2023

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France-headquartered private equity firm Astorg has cut the fundraising target for its eighth flagship fund amid sluggish fundraising and M&A activity over recent quarters, two sources familiar with the situation told Unquote.

The pan-European and US investor has chosen to reduce its initial target of EUR 6.5bn, settling on a EUR 4.5bn hard-cap, one source said.

So far, the GP has secured EUR 4bn in commitments, two sources said, with one adding that it will continue to accept commitments until the end of the year.

Astorg had originally sought to close the fund earlier this year, as reported.

The change in fundraising target will not change the fund's strategy, one source said, meaning that the vehicle will continue to write equity cheques of EUR 400m-EUR 600m to invest in B2B businesses across the healthcare, technology, industrials and business services sectors, one source said.

Astorg held a first close for the fund around 18 months ago and has since gone on to deploy around 40% of its capital, the source said.

So far, the fund has invested in Fastmarkets, a price benchmarking and commodities markets analysis platform; technical and building insulation products distributor Ipcom; pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturer Cordenpharma; and Open Health, a company that provides scientific communications and market access services to the pharmaceutical industry.

The GP's eighth fund looks set to reach a similar volume of commitments to its previous flagship fund, which held a final close in January 2019, surpassing its EUR 3.2bn target.

Astorg is fundraising in a challenging market, with LPs contending with both the numerator and denominator effect when it comes to managing their allocations to private equity, one source said. The slowdown is also affecting the M&A market, which in turn affects distributions from exits, the source added.

Astorg declined to comment.