Anima Alternative launches €200m direct lending fund

Alessia Argentieri
16 September 2020

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Anima Alternative has launched its debut fund, Anima Alternative 1, a direct lending vehicle with a target of €150m and hard-cap of €200m.

"Our fund aims at providing flexible financing solutions for the medium and long-term needs of Italian SMEs," Anima Alternative CEO Philippe Minard told Unquote. "This vehicle represents the starting point of a large and diversified platform of alternative funds, which we plan to build in the coming years. Our platform will include private debt as well as other alternative asset classes and will be able to offer attractive investment opportunities to our LPs."

Anima Alternative was established in February 2020 to focus on investments across the Italian private markets. The firm is part of Anima Group, an Italian asset manger with €186bn in assets under management. The group offers a range of funds, investment platforms and wealth management services to institutional investors.

Investors
Anima Alternative 1 expects to build a wide LP base composed of Italian institutional investors, primarily pension funds, insurance companies and bank foundations.

Minard said: "Despite the slowdown caused by the pandemic, we have attracted the interest of numerous investors and are already in due diligence with many of them. Our fund's products are flexible and diversified, able to support the different needs that companies will have in the difficult scenario triggered by the coronavirus outbreak."

Investments
Anima Alternative 1 will mainly provide debt facilities, including senior debt, unitranche, second lien and mezzanine. It will also deploy around 20% of its capital in equity investments for the acquisition of minority stakes.

The fund will target profitable companies with revenues of up to €500m and a staff of up to 3,000 employees. It will invest in a wide range of sectors, excluding financial and real estate, with a special focus on ESG strategies, and will provide tickets of around €10-15m.

People
Anima Alternative – Philippe Minard (CEO); Alessandro Melzi d'Eril (president); Andrea Mandraccio (director).