UK - CBPE Capital meets revised target; closes eighth fund on £405m

Deborah
20 January 2010

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CBPE Capital has now confirmed that it has closed its latest fund, CBPE Capital Fund VIII, on ТЃ405m, below its initial ТЃ500m target, but still greater than its predecessor vehicle which closed on ТЃ360m in 2004.

Fund VIII was launched in Q3 of 2008, in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse, with an original target of £500m. This goal was quickly revised to £400m as a result of the crisis. The fund reached a first close of £270m in April 2009.

The new fund will focus on targeting UK businesses with enterprise values of up to £150m. CBPE will look to deploy approximately £100m for a total of approximately three to five deals per year, so that the vehicle is fully invested over the next three to four years. The firm can invest between £10-80m per transaction for a majority or minority stake in a company.

CBPE Fund VIII received commitments from both new and existing LPs, comprising a total of 30 investors in all. Most of the LPs are institutional investors that hail from Europe and the US.

The achievement could be a sign that more investors are beginning to favour the mid-market scene. HgCapital is soon expected to close its sixth fund on £1.85bn, doubling its previous fund size.

CBPE spun out of British merchant bank Close Brothers in 2008. The vehicle will be the team's eighth buyout fund, but its first fund under the CBPE name.