Carlyle closes fifth Europe Partners fund on €6.4bn

Alessia Argentieri
24 October 2019

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Carlyle Group has closed its fund Carlyle Europe Partners V (CEP V) on тЌ6.4bn, exceeding its initial тЌ5.5bn target.

The vehicle was launched in March 2018 and held a first close on €3.3bn in May 2018.

It is almost double the size of its predecessor, Carlyle Europe Partners IV (CEP IV), which closed on its €3.75bn hard-cap in July 2015.

CEP V is managed by a team of 40 professionals across five European offices. It is the fifth in the Carlyle Europe Partners franchise, which over the past 22 years has invested €15.2bn in 78 deals across Europe.

In addition, the GP closed a new fund, Carlyle Europe Technology Partners IV, on its hard-cap of €1.35bn in January this year. The vehicle targets European lower-mid-market companies focusing on the telecommunications, media and technology sectors.

Investors
CEP V received commitments from both existing and new LPs. In total, more than 300 investors from 37 countries across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia made commitments to the new vehicle. Around 90% of them are institutional investors, with a strong presence of sovereign wealth funds and pension funds, including California Public Employees Retirement System with €300m, California State Teachers Retirement System with $175m and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board with €300m.

Investments
CEP V invests in European upper-mid-market companies across a wide range of sectors and industries where there is significant potential for business transformation. The fund has already made five investments in companies located in Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, and is currently around 23% deployed, Unquote understands.

Its portfolio is composed of Italy-based Design Holding, a global high-end interior design group acquired in September 2018; Netherlands-based speciality chemicals unit Nouryon, carved out from AkzoNobel in October 2018; Jeanologia, a Spain-based manufacturer of machinery for the textiles industry, bought in March 2019; Spanish energy company Cepsa, bought in April 2019; and Italian machinery producer Forgital, acquired by the GP for around €1bn in May 2019.

People
Carlyle Europe Partners – Marco De Benedetti, Gregor Boehm (co-heads).