Beringea targets healthcare

Beringea, the firm formerly known as ProVen Private Equity – see people this issue – has started marketing for its second healthcare fund Beringea InvestCare Partners II, which will be targeting investments in both the UK and US.

The firm’s first fund InvestCare raised $65 million and was focused solely on the US market. The fund has made 11 investments so far and two exits including an IPO. It is almost fully invested. On the back of its success the Beringea team in the UK hopes to raise $150 million for the second fund from both its existing US investor base and new investors in the UK market.

Investments will be split two thirds in the US and a third in the UK with a focus on four main sectors – outsourcing related to healthcare; medical devices; IT related to healthcare and self-health and alternative medicine.

Jeff Bocan, an investment manager with the firm sees the self-health sector in particular as a hot growth sector. He is particularly bullish about opportunities in the UK: “We see a lot of great opportunities in the UK as more of the NHS is privatised and more is being outsourced to the private sector.”

He views fund raising as a challenge, particularly as it is the first time Beringea has targeted UK investors with a healthcare fund. The last fund was an exclusively US investor base. But Bocan is quietly confident due to the support of the group’s existing investor base, some of which he expects will commit to the new fund. “We feel we have a lot of experience to offer this market based on our experience in the US and the performance so far of the first fund.”

He expects a first close for the fund in the autumn and judging by how long it’s taken other players to raise comparable funds he expects the final fund raising exercise to be complete in around 18 months.