Alpha Private Equity closes APEF 7 with €903m

Alice Tchernookova
06 June 2017

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Alpha Private Equity has held a final close for its seventh fund, Alpha Private Equity Fund 7 (APEF 7), on €903m, hitting its hard-cap and exceeding its €800m target.

Alpha had launched the fund in March 2016. The amount raised for the vehicle is a significant step up from its predecessor, which raised €700m in 2012. The fund is a Luxembourg-based SICAR structure.

Alpha currently has a 32-strong team across offices in Italy, France, Germany, the Benelux region and Switzerland. The GP said it has deployed around €2.9bn of funding through 88 transactions and generated 77 exits since inception.

Earlier this year, the GP announced the appointment of Jacques Rossignol as partner and head of France, replacing Nicolas ver Hulst. Rossignol joined from his previous role as managing partner at 21 Centrale Partners. His appointment at Alpha is part of a wider wave of recruitment at the firm, with others due to follow over the next few months, specifically in France.

Capstone Partners acted as exclusive placement agent on the fundraise, while Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Arendt & Medernach, Reed Smith and Baker & McKenzie provided legal and tax advice.

Investors
APEF 7 received commitments from a wide variety of international LPs. Around 90% of them came from Europe, 9% from the US and the remaining 1% from other parts of the world.

Alpha reports that family offices have increased their appetite for private equity – their place within this fundraising has grown significantly, representing a total of 25%, compared to 12% for APEF 6. They are the largest investor group within APEF 7, shortly followed by pension funds (23% compared to 27% for APEF 6), funds-of-funds (20% compared to 37%), insurance companies (18% compared to 9%) and other types (14% compared to 15%).

Investments
Alpha primarily focuses on the continental European mid-market. According to the GP, 70% of the deals closed with APEF 6 were proprietary. Primary transactions represented around 58%, and secondary ones around 30%.

APEF 7's investment strategy will remain largely the same as APEF 6. However, it will commit slightly larger tickets (€50-200m, taking co-investments into account) due to the vehicle's larger size. Businesses will typically have an EV of €100-500m with similar turnovers.

Between 9-12 investments are planned, mainly in the retail and B2B services/industrial sectors, which have historically been Alpha's focus. The healthcare and technology sectors will also be considered. Continental Europe will be targeted at large, with particular attention to southern Europe where "it is important to be strong too at the moment," a source familiar with the matter said.

Alpha said it will target businesses at a relatively advanced stage of growth and look to expand across the continent, presenting itself as "the ideal partner to help strong local businesses transition into pan-European market leaders". The GP added that it would work on expanding its portfolio companies through build-ups, international development, performance enhancements and team reinforcements.