17Capital provides £125m in preferred equity to Exponent III

The preferred equity provider is currently deploying capital from its 17Capital Fund 5, which held an interim close on €1.2bn in October 2019.

The financing will go towards funding add-on acquisitions for Exponent III portfolio companies.

Exponent III closed on £1bn in April 2015 and was fully deployed as of March 2019. It owns a number of consumer businesses including voucher company Wowcher, non-durable household products company Scotts Miracle-Gro and food products maker Meadow Foods.

To date, the fund has realised two assets: Bullitt Group and Photobox.

Unquote reported on the recent surge in interest for preferred equity, with some advisers seeing a noticeable increase in the number of enquiries about these transactions. Market participants said the benefits of preferred equity included speed of implementation and that the transaction does not necessarily require LP involvement or consent.

LPs in Exponent III include Aberdeen Standard Investments, Central Pension Fund and CNP Assurances with some of the largest commitments.  

Goldman Sachs provided financial advice on the transaction.

Exponent Private Equity declined to comment, and 17 Capital could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.

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