Argos Soditic to hold €300m first closing for Euroknights VII

In total, Euroknights VII has received irrevocable commitments from international investors totalling €300m, well over half way to the fund's €550m target, and formal filings are expected to be made early next week. At this point it is understood that all of the hard-circled capital has come from existing investors or from institutions close to the GP, including at least one that narrowly missed out on committing to the predecessor fund.

Commitments from new investors are likely in the next phase of fundraising, which is expected to take the vehicle to a final close in the first few months of 2017. The identity of the fund's backers at the first closing stage have not been revealed.

The vehicle was launched in May this year. According to a Form D filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in June, Euroknights VII is domiciled in Jersey.

Should the vehicle successfully meet its target, funds in Argos's Euroknights family would have nearly quadrupled in size since 2000, when Euroknights IV was closed on €145m. In 2006, Argos raised €275m for the fund's successor, Euroknights V.

Additionally, a source close to the GP confirmed that Argos Soditic has signed contracts on what will be the last transaction from the €400m Euroknights VI fund: the acquisition of a French business is conditional on local regulatory approvals. Thereafter, the GP will begin to draw on capital from the new fund and already has a number of deal processes in play, two of which are at an advanced stage.

Investments
In terms of strategy, Euroknights VII will stick closely to the GP's core focus, concentrating on smaller and mid-market buyouts involving European companies; the GP will also retain its leaning towards more unconventional or complex transactions, often sourced off-market. That said, the likely increase in fund size for Euroknights VII is expected to translate to larger equity tickets rather than more deals.

People
Argos Soditic – Guy Semmens (partner); Constance Jay (investor relations).

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