Citizen closes Citizen Capital II on €43m

The fund, which launched in 2015, was closed before hitting its fixed €45m hard-cap, when the subscription period finished at the end of November 2016. A first close had been held by the GP in June 2015 on €37m, a source familiar with the matter told unquote”. Investments from the fund began after the first close.

Structured as a Fonds Professionels de Capital Investissement (FPCI), the fund has a 10-year lifespan and a two-year extension period. The hurdle represents 6% and the carry 20%, half of which is based on financial performance and half on social/environmental performance, according to the same source.

The current fund is twice as large as Citizen Capital I, which closed on €22m in 2012. It is now fully invested, with three or four divestments yet to be made, the source said. Two divestments – Trace, and G2J – have already brought around 30% IRR to investors – a factor that encouraged a large number of investors to recommit to Citizen Capital II, according to the source. Other investments from fund I included online homeware specialist Camif.fr, mobile service provider for the elderly Bazile, and food delivery service Eat Sushi.   

Citizen Capital invests in companies that answer social or environmental needs, for instance providing help to vulnerable people or those in need. These companies can, for example, focus on unemployment, elderly care, circular economy, or assistance to the disabled. Around 10 funds in France are focusing on that type of investment, the same source told unquote”. Citizen Capital currently has around €65m assets under management with a team of seven investment managers.

Investors
Around 90% of the fund’s subscribers are institutional, the source told unquote’’. A large part of those, including BPI France, AG2R La Mondiale, CNP Assurances, Amundi, Agrica and others, were already part of the first fund. They are joined by new investors such as the European Investment Fund (EIF), Natixis subsidiary Mirova, employment funds and others.

A number of family offices and private investors are also part of the pool, including Bridgepoint’s Benoît Bassi, Eurazeo/AFIC’s Olivier Millet, and ex-Activa Capital member Jean-Louise de Bernardy. 

Investments
Between 10-12 investments are planned with Citizen Capital II (compared with seven from the first fund), as the GP prefers giving privilege to hands-on long-term holding periods within fewer businesses. Target companies will have a turnover of at least €1m and maximum €50m.

Equity tickets should range from €1-4m, with €2-3m for first rounds, the source told unquote". This is again slightly more than for the previous fund, where the average ticket was worth around €1.5m. Targeted sectors for the fund's impact investments will include education, healthcare, digital HR, disabled- or erderly-focused businesses, agriculture and cleantech.

A few investments have already been made with the fund, including a €5m round for rewards-based crowdfunding platform Ulule in September, and a €6m round alongside BPI France and Alven Capital for online education courses platform OpenClassrooms the same month. Other sould soon follow, according to the GP. 

People
Citizen Capital – Laurence Méhaignerie (CEO/co-founder).

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