British Private Equity Awards honour unusual suspects

Kimberly Romaine
07 October 2013

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Crises often spawn new teams. This summer saw two spinouts announced in France, reminiscent of the early-2000s when many outfits – including many of today’s well-known names – were going it alone. Kimberly Romaine comments.

The fundraising section of the latest unquote" print edition (published today) contains 10 fund closes – 40% of which are for newcomers. Three of the four did so within six months of hitting the road.

And this month's British Private Equity Awards saw gongs go to a handful of outfits that weren't around just a few years ago. In a year (the awards measured success between July 2012 and June 2013) in which myriad fundraising successes were announced, the award for fund of the year went to NorthEdge Capital (partner and chief investment officer Andy Ball pictured collecting the award), a firm founded by former employees of UK mid-market investor LDC. The firm managed to exceed its target for its debut fund, attracting a staggering 42% of LPs from the US – despite the fact that US investors had been fairly allergic to Europe in recent months.

The mid-market house of the year award went to Equistone, a Barclays Private Equity spinout that raised its maiden independent fund on target during the judging period, while simultaneously executing five new deals and four divestments.

Mobeus Equity Partners, which spun out from its parent recently, took home the VCT of the year award, having managed four new deals, three exits and a record fundraise in the year since its buyout.

These successes stand in marked contrast to a number of erstwhile titans whose funds have closed below target after protracted raises – or whose vehicles are still trying to raise.

The overriding theme of Europe's private equity market is that it is no longer about the big brands, but about the teams able to deliver distributions to their LPs – and convince investors of their ability to generate alpha in a markedly different economic backdrop. This issue's cover story touches on some of these points.