Essling Capital launches Essling Expansion fund

The fundraising of Essling Expansion will kick off soon and a first closing for the fund is expected to take place by the end of 2018.

The hard-cap of the fund should be set at €300m, Unquote understands. A spokesperson for Essling confirmed terms will follow the 2-8-20 standard.

The private equity team of French asset management firm Massena span out and rebranded as Essling Capital in April 2017. The new entity was set up and is owned by Massena founder Frank Noël-Vandenberghe and Michele Mezzarobba, who joined Massena in 2015 as a partner to head up the firm's non-listed activities. Noël-Vandenberghe is a partner in the new entity, while Mezzarobba is president.

The team manages investment vehicles and specialised mandates, mainly in private equity and private debt. In September last year, it recruited the funds-of-funds team of limited partner Amundi Private Equity with a view to launching its first fund-of-funds.

Essling held a final close for its second co-investment fund ECI 2 on €115m, surpassing its initial hard-cap of €100m, in February this year. The vehicle aims to acquire minority stakes in LBOs over a 12-month period, investing between €10-30m per deal. ECI 2 is currently 85% deployed. 

Essling Capital has €1bn in total AUM.

Investors
Backers of the fund are likely to include institutional investors, family offices and high-net-worth individuals.

Investments
Essling Expansion will complete majority acquisitions and, if co-investing, will be the leading equity provider.

The GP intends to invest equity tickets of around €10-40m in French and European companies with enterprise values of between €25-200m. Build-up strategies, including abroad, will be prioritised.

People
Essling Capital – Michele Mezzarobba (founder, director); Bertrand Fesneau, Rémi Matuchansky (managers); Sidney Cabessa (senior adviser).

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