Astorg holds €4bn final close for seventh fund

Francesca Veronesi
10 January 2019

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French GP Astorg has held a first and final close on €4bn for Astorg VII, surpassing the initial target of €3.2bn after three months on the fundraising trail.

The vehicle has closed just below its hard-cap, Unquote understands. Launched in Q4 2018, the seventh generation fund is almost double the size of its predecessor, Astorg VI, which closed on its €2.1bn hard-cap in 2016.

Astorg VI is more than 80% invested and was most recently deployed for the investments in France-based Aries Alliance and Nemera in October 2018.

Investors
Demand from investors in Astorg VI exceeded Astorg VII's target of €3.2bn, according to a statement by Astorg. Around 90% of previous backers have recommitted to the new fund.

Astorg VII is backed by public and corporate pension funds (32%), institutional asset managers (21%), insurance companies (16%) and sovereign wealth funds (10%). LPs are located in Europe (58%), North America (29%) and Asia (13%).

The firm has always had a large proportion of investors from outside France. In Astorg II 50% of LPs were French, Astorg III and IV had between 9-20% and Astorg V, 9%; whereas Astorg VI, closed on €2.1bn in 2016, with 20% of its capital coming from French investors, Unquote understands.

Investments
The GP will continue to pursue its strategy of investing in B2B companies that are already global businesses or have a strong potential to become so. Astorg VII will be deployed mainly in European companies valued between €200m-2bn.

Astorg also intends to penetrate the US market with its latest vehicle, backing companies operating in the healthcare and software sectors.

People
Astorg – Thierry Timsit (CEO; managing partner).