Indigo Capital France hits €210m first close for new fund

The FCPI Indigo Capital vehicle has a target of €250m, which the team is hoping to reach in the first quarter of 2014. Indigo started marketing the fund in September last year. Clifford Chance is providing legal advice on the fundraise.

"The current fundraising environment is complex, so raising vehicles is fairly difficult and takes some time," said managing partner Cyril de Galea. "That said, investors are displaying appetite for mezzanine and other forms of debt at the moment, and we are pleased that we were able to exceed our first-close goal."

This is the Paris-based team's maiden independent fundraising effort, having spun out from UK-based Indigo Capital last year. The two legally independent managers now share the same name and branding but cater to two separate markets. The UK structure will now focus on managing the existing portfolio and is not looking to raise a new vehicle.

Investors
The fund attracted an LP base mainly comprising pension funds, insurers, public agencies and a handful of family offices as well as high-net-worth individuals.

Despite France's well-documented struggle to attract foreign investors, nearly two thirds (65%) of the commitments came from non-French LPs, mainly from the rest of Europe. "France is not necessarily the easiest destination to promote at the moment," says de Galea. "But we have been able to sell 20 years' worth of performance in the mezzanine space and investors were receptive to this track record."

Investments
FCPI Indigo Capital will keep to the GP's strategy of backing private-equity led transactions. "We can't say that we'll never do them, but sponsorless deals aren't really part of our business model. We are not convinced holding both debt and significant equity positions in the same assets is necessarily beneficial," says de Galea.

The fund will mainly invest in France but will also consider opportunities in the rest of Europe (bar the UK). The focus will remain on the mid-market. Says de Galea: "Our sweet spot lies in tickets in the €8-30m range, but we will be able to go up to €50m with co-investment from our LPs."

People
Partners Monique Deloire and Cyril de Galea led Indigo Capital France's spinout process. In addition to the first close, the GP also announced the recruitment of a third partner, ex-SocGen director Nathalie Bleunven. The Indigo France team now comprises eight professionals.

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