Andera closes WC4 on €445m

Launched in Q4 2017 with a target of €350m, the fund held a  €360m first close this summer. 

WC4 significantly surpassed the size of its predecessor, Winch Capital 3, which closed on €300m in 2013. The latter reached full deployment in June, Unquote previously reported.

This is the first fundraising completed since Andera's spin-out from previous owner Edmond de Rothschild Group in April this year. 

Investors
Institutional investors (funds-of-funds, insurance companies, and institutions de prévoyance) are responsible for the majority of commitments, with the remainder coming from family offices and high-net-worth individuals.

Backers of WC3 that have committed to its successor include the European Investment Fund, BPI France, Sogecap, BNP Paribas Cardif, UMR, MACSF, Euro PE and Swen. 

Edmond de Rothschild, a former LP of Winch Capital 3, has not recommitted this time around, although a spokesperson for Andera previously confirmed to Unquote that the private bank and asset manager had only committed around 5% in Winch Capital 3. 

Conversely, Andera's independence was a reason for new LPs to commit to the fund, including the fund-of-funds team of Ardian.

The GP actively tried to internationalise the LP base of WC4 during the fundraise and as a result around 15% of investors are from outside France. A large fund-of-funds based in Switzerland has committed capital to the vehicle, Unquote understands.

Investments
WC4 intends to back SMEs primarily in France and Italy, and occasionally elsewhere in Europe. The previous Winch vehicles have already completed one investment in Spain, Switzerland and the Benelux region, and WC4 will continue to consider these areas.

Portfolio companies will generate turnovers in the €30-300m range and Andera will acquire either a minority or majority stake, providing equity tickets between €12-50m, with the capacity to structure additional rounds of financing of up to €80m with the backing of some of its key LPs.

The Winch team focuses mainly on primary origination, which represents 60% of previous investments of the fund, according to a statement by the firm. Originally specialised in the acquisition of minority stakes via its Winch vehicles, Andera did more majority stake investments with Winch 3, where a third of investments were majority stakes.

The vehicle's first investment was the buyout of France-based Skill & You, a distance learning specialist, for which it provided a €30m investment. 

People
Andera Partners – Pierre-Yves Poirier, François-Xavier Mauron (partners).

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