Credit Agricole launches co-investment platform

Credit Agricole Private Equity, the private equity arm of the French bank, has launched a co-investment platform focused on taking minority stakes alongside European and North American private equity funds.

The two new funds have already each received an allocation of €50m, with one sponsored by Credit Agricole and the other naming Credit Agricole’s insurance company Predica as an investor. The funds will take minority stakes, investing in medium to large leveraged buyouts and development capital deals with an investment capacity of €15m per transaction.

Recent deal activity includes investing alongside Carlyle Group in its €1.1bn acquisition of French telecoms company Numericable from existing shareholders Altice and Cinven in March this year, and the purchase of a 23% interest in Balitrand, a French building supplies business, as part of a Weinberg Capital Partners LBO in July.