Access holds €768m final close for ACF VII

Francesca Veronesi
21 December 2018

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French funds-of-funds manager Access Capital Partners has held a final close on €768m for Access Capital Fund VII (ACF VII), a small buyout fund-of-funds, exceeding its €500m target.

The vehicle recorded a first close on €343m in December 2016 and it is currently deployed at 74%.

It is larger than predecessor ACF VI, closed on €644m in May 2015.

A spokesperson for Access Capital confirmed that the firm plans to start fundraising for its eighth generation fund, ACF VIII, in 2019 and could hold a first close for the next vehicle towards Q4 next year.

It was recently announced that investment bank Alantra will acquire a 24.5% interest in Access Capital for a cash consideration of €19m. Alantra is aiming to ultimately own a 49% stake in Access Capital's holding and operational company.

Investors
Historical and new Europe-based LPs, including insurers, public and private pension funds, banks, foundations and family offices have recommitted to the vehicle. An Access Capital representative disclosed the LP base of the fund is largely based in Germany and the remainder in France, the Nordic region and the UK.

Insurance companies have been the largest contributor to the fund's previous generations, with 60% of committed capital in ACF VI being provided by such LPs. Previous investors in ACF VI include East Riding Pension Fund, Flintshire County Council Pension Fund, South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, Warburg Invest and Wave Management.

Investments
ACF VII has already deployed 74% of its capital to primary funds and secondary investments in European smaller buyout funds (usually smaller than €500m).

A representative of the firm confirmed that funds based in the Benelux, DACH, the Nordic region, France and the UK will be targeted, though the usual allocation to the UK seen in previous funds will be halved due to uncertainty provoked by Brexit. The firm hopes to return to the normal UK allocation when deploying ACF VIII.

Like its predecessor, secondary transactions will represent up to 40% of total commitments, while the remainder will be dedicated to primary backing.

People
Access Capital Partners – Agnès Nahum, Philippe Poggioli (managing partners).