Permira registers eighth flagship fund

Greg Gille
27 July 2021

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Private equity house Permira is gearing up for the launch of its new buyout fund.

Permira filed a registration document for a "Permira VIII GP" vehicle with Luxembourg's Registre de Commerce et des Sociétés on 26 July.

In May, Bloomberg reported that Permira was in the early stages of talking to investors about its next fund, potentially hitting the road in the second half of 2021 to try and raise more than USD 15bn (although the fund will be euro-denominated).

Permira declined to comment.

The firm's current flagship, Permira VII, held a final close in October 2019, hitting its EUR 11bn hard-cap. The vehicle deploys equity tickets of EUR 250m-1bn in businesses with enterprise values in the EUR 500m-3bn range. It invests in companies primarily based in Europe, but also targets US- and Asia-headquartered businesses, helping them build a presence in the European marketplace. The fund targets the consumer, services, healthcare and technology sectors.

The firm has had a busy 2021 so far on the buy-side, inking five deals, according to Unquote Data. Among these were a EUR 1.9bn investment in listed online classifieds platform Adevinta to secure a 10% stake, as well as the purchase of a 36% stake in France-based digital real estate platform New Immo Group.

On the exit side, Permira listed footwear business Dr Martens in London with a valuation of GBP 3.7bn (while retaining a 42.9% stake) and sold pet care retail chain Arcaplanet to Cinven in a EUR 1bn-plus deal.

Earlier this year, Permira also registered its second growth opportunities fund, Permira Growth Opportunities II. A source close to the situation told Unquote at the time that the fund has a target of USD 2.5bn. The fund is expected to follow the same strategy as its predecessor, Permira Growth Opportunities I, which held a final close on USD 1.7bn in June 2019. The vehicle makes strategic minority investments in high-growth technology-enabled businesses on a global scale.

While a number of large-cap players closed their latest efforts in the past 24 months, some are still out on the road. Cinven is notably expected to start collecting commitments for its eighth fund in the second half of 2021 with a USD 12bn target, according to Unquote Data. Carlyle Group also registered its eighth flagship vehicle with the Luxembourg business register in March 2021 with a target of USD 22bn. BC Partners' 11th fund held a first close in September 2020 at EUR 4bn, having launched in January 2020 with a target of EUR 8.5bn.