Rothschild to launch €250-300m fund as part of PE push

José Rojo
07 October 2015

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Edmond de Rothschild will soon launch a €250-300m third fund for the global franchise Edmond de Rothschild Europportunities (ERES) as part of a private equity push that includes the hire of David Chamberlain as head of investor relations.

Speaking to unquote", Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity CEO Johnny el Hachem said the firm aims to add an extra €1.5-2bn in managed assets to its currently €3bn-strong private equity portfolio in the next two and a half years.

According to el Hachem, this will be accomplished by boosting operations across its whole fund spectrum. Rothschild is currently working on fundraising for three vehicles – China 2, Ginko 2, TIIC 2 – and has plans to launch new funds for life sciences-focused BioDiscovery, small-cap growth capital brand Cabestan and the Africa-based Amethis franchise by 2016.

Cross-border fund ERES III will add to this in the coming weeks. The launch of the vehicle, foreseen for mid-October, follows the appointment of Jean-François Félix as head of the ERES franchise in June.

ERES III comes with a €250-300m target, surpassing its €100m ERES I and €220m ERES II predecessors; the latter has concluded its investment phase and returned more than 60% of all called commitments to investors.

According to el Hachem, an approach will be made to backers of the two previous vehicles in order to meet ERES III's fundraising target.

In addition, Rothschild will look to diversify its existing pan-European LP base, where France is still predominant. To that end, new investors will be sought via the GP's bases in London and Hong Kong.

ERES III will target companies from across the globe and will keep a consortium-based approach, with plans for co-investments alongside other Rothschild funds and external houses the firm has invested in as an LP.

The strategy was followed by predecessor ERES II: the vehicle began by focusing on Asian investments but turned to Africa when asset prices climbed in Asia, before jumping to the US when the economy picked up, said el Hachem.

Within Europe, ERES III will look for businesses from the consumer services, telecoms, digital and financials sectors, among others; the preferred enterprise value sits in the €700m-1.5bn range. A focus will be placed on companies with an international profile.