Pollen Street Capital IV raises £560m, close to surpass target

The vehicle was launched in 2019 with a £600m target and £700m hard-cap, and plans to hold a final close by September.

"Our fundraising has been smooth and successful despite the disruption brought by the pandemic," the head of business development at PSC, Hugh Cutler, told Unquote. "We have secured a very high re-up rate from the vast majority of the investors in our previous funds, while new LPs have joined our investor base. All of this has been achieved thanks to our strong track record and sector-focused expertise."

The fund has built an investor base composed of large North American pension funds, northern European pension funds, some Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, asset managers, insurers and some smaller investors, primarily family offices and private wealth individuals.

"The majority of the capital in our fund has been raised from large, sophisticated, institutional investors, primarily pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign funds, which are strong partners for us and a great source of long-term capital," said Cutler.

PSC IV focuses on investments across the financial and business services industries, with the aim of boosting the growth and expansion of lower-mid-market companies. It invests primarily in the UK, with occasional investments in the rest of Europe.

The fund typically deploys equity tickets of £20-100m, using very little leverage in its transactions, and targets businesses with enterprise values of up to £200m. It can also make co-investments with its LPs for larger deals.

The vehicle plans to build a portfolio composed of around 12 companies.

PSC IV is in the process of closing its fourth deal, taking private a business services company that is currently listed. In addition, it plans to ink two more deals by the end of the year.

PSC is also managing its third fund, PSC III, which closed on £402m in February 2018, exceeding its £350m target.

The vehicle has recently completed its first exit, the sale of insurance broker Specialist Risk Group (SRG), purchased by US-based mid-market private equity firm HGGC. With this exit, PSC reaped a return of 5.1x.

The firm expects to perform two more exits from PSC III by the end of the year.

Established in 2013, PSC specialises in private equity and credit strategies on behalf of investors including pension funds, asset managers, banks and family offices from around the world. The firm has a team of 70 professionals across its offices located in London and New York.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Funds
• Buyout
• UK / Ireland
• Southern Europe
• Nordics
• France
• DACH
• Benelux
• CEE
• United Kingdom
• United States