Artá Capital closes second fund on €400m hard-cap

Alessia Argentieri
16 February 2018

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Spanish mid-market private equity firm Artá Capital has held a final close for Artá Capital Fund II on its €400m hard-cap.

After holding its first close in August 2016, the vehicle started to make investments in 2017, and has so far deployed 25% of its capital.

In March 2017, Artá used the fund to buy a 90% stake in Portuguese gas distributor Gascan from Explorer Investments, investing €30m. Capital from the vehicle was also deployed to acquire a 36% stake in Spanish winemaker Alvinesa and a 60% stake in maritime communications services provider Satlink.

Investors
Artá Capital Fund II was backed by approximately 50 investors, including Grupo March through Corporación Financiera Alba, which committed almost half of the fund's capital; several family offices, which subscribed 25% of the fund; and 10 institutional investors, both Spanish and international, primarily insurance companies, pension funds and mutual funds.

Investments
The fund will provide €25-60m equity tickets targeting 10 medium-sized Iberian companies with a business value between €100-500m, strong profitability, an internationalisation strategy and high growth potential, whether organically or through acquisitions.

Unquote understands that the firm is currently analysing several investment opportunities for its Artá Capital Fund II and has already started due diligence on an exclusivity basis for one of them.

In 2018, the firm intends to close two or three transactions in Spain and Portugal, diversifying the deployment of the fund's capital between different sectors and also considering some larger co-investments.

Compared with the investment strategy followed for its first fund, the 2008-vintage Artá Capital Fund I, which mainly focused on minority stakes in family-owned companies, the firm has expanded its scope with its second fund, making both minority and majority investments and taking part in buyouts and growth capital operations.

People
Artá Capital – Ramón Carné Casas, Nicolas Jiménez-Ugarte (managing partners); Jaime Alba Ripolles (partner).