ISIS closes first independent fund on £238.5m

04 January 2008

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ISIS Equity Partners has closed its first fund as an independent firm on £238.5m. The latest fund had a target of £200m, but the ceiling was raised to £235m owing to strong investor interest. The total fund size of £238.5m includes the ISIS team's commitment of 1.5%. ISIS launched the new fund in late 2006 and held a first close on £148.5m in January 2007. The fund is described as a vanilla-structured 10-year LP fund. ISIS IV LP Fund follows previous vehicles raised by the same team before it span out of F&C Asset Management in June 2005. ISIS III closed in 2003 on £151m and is now fully invested having realised a return of 3.2x and a gross IRR of 82% to 30 June 2007.

The majority of the investors in ISIS IV are new LPs. Formerly a captive, ISIS's previous vehicles were primarily funded by commitments from its ultimate parent, Friends Provident. Like its predecessor, ISIS IV will focus on undertaking buyouts of UK-based companies with enterprise values of between £15m-75m. This will involve ISIS investing equity per deal of between £6-20m. ISIS IV has already completed a £38.5m buyout in the healthcare sector. (Page 05).