Foresight hits £65m first close for Regional Investment III

Foresight Regional Investment III is the third vehicle in the firm's regional private equity strategy, which sees it support local SMEs in specific areas of the UK. Foresight said in a statement that the strategy aims to deliver both attractive economic returns and broader long‐term benefits for regional communities by focusing on an "underserved and less competitive" part of the market.

Foresight held a final close on £58m for its first Regional Fund in 2016, with the first vehicle seeking to injest up to £5m in equity into UK companies operating in the north-west of England, south Yorkshire and north-east Wales. According to Foresight, the fund has realised two assets to date, reaping returns of 6.1x and 5.6x money, and helped create more than 600 new jobs in the companies it backed.

This was followed by Foresight Regional Investment II closing on £100m in 2019. The second vehicle applies the same strategy in the east of England, through an evergreen structure. According to the firm, the fund has backed 20 businesses to date.

Osborne Clarke is acting as legal counsel to Foresight on the fundraise.

Investors
The fund has Greater Manchester Pension Fund as its cornerstone investor, with support from the Clwyd and Merseyside pension funds.

Investments
The Fund has a flexible mandate and can support buyout, minority equity release and growth capital transactions. It will target growing SMEs typically valued at up to £30m based in north-west England and north Wales.

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

• Topics
• Funds
• UK / Ireland
• Foresight Group