Bridges Ventures closes fund on £125m

Ellie Pullen
07 October 2013

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Bridges Ventures has held the final close of Bridges Sustainable Growth Fund III on ТЃ125m, beating its ТЃ100m target.

The fund held its first close in December 2011, having raised £72m. The vehicle is Bridges' third sustainable growth fund and also the largest. The firm's first two sustainable growth funds closed in 2002 on £40m and 2007 on £75m respectively.

The firm didn't use a placement agent for its latest fund.

Bridges' assets under management have doubled over the last three years, according to the firm, to reach almost £340m.

The firm recently won "Venture Exit of the Year" at the unquote" British Private Equity Awards for its partial divestment of The Gym Group, in which the firm reaped a 3.7x money multiple and an IRR of 50%.

Investors
Overall, the fund saw more than 30 investors commit and included a GP contribution. The minimum subscription for committing to the fund was £1m, although Bridges accepted slightly less than this amount at its discretion in some cases.

Fund III saw several new investors contribute, as well as a number of existing LPs from its previous sustainable growth funds. According to Bridges, some of its existing investors were cornerstone investors for the new fund.

Existing investors of Bridges' previous funds that have backed Fund III include private equity firms 3i and Doughty Hanson; institutions including RLAM, West Midlands Pension Fund, HSBC and South Yorkshire Pensions Authority; trusts and endowments such as All Souls College, Wittington Investments, Merton College, Support and Help in Education and the R&S Cohen Foundation; as well as family offices and high-net-worth individuals.

The European Investment Fund is a new backer and cornerstone investor of Bridges' sustainable growth funds, having committed to its Fund III. Other new backers include London Pensions Fund Authority, the Merseyside Pension Fund and Flintshire County Council.

Investments
Bridges' Fund III invests in SMEs operating in the healthcare, education and environmental sectors, as well as underserved areas. According to Bridges, 80% of its investments go into companies in the most deprived parts of the UK.

The firm plans on making three to five investments per year from the fund, according to Bridges partner and co-founder Michele Giddens.

So far, Bridges has made three investments from Fund III, including The Vet, which received early-stage capital from Fund III at concept stage. The fund has also provided working capital to the company. The other two investments made via the fund will be announced shortly, Giddens told unquote".

Bridges typically invests £2-15m in either later-stage businesses that are generating revenues of £5-50m, or start-ups seeking capital to scale up.

People
Michele Giddens is a co-founder and partner at Bridges.