EDF sells private equity portfolio

Arcis, the London headquartered secondaries private equity investor, has acquired the entire portfolio of private equity investments held by EDF Capital Investissement, the private equity arm of Electricité de France, Europe’s largest power company.

The portfolio consists of positions in almost thirty funds, ranging from buyouts, venture and growth/development capital funds, including Emertec, EPF, Sofinnova and Ventech.

The portfolio also includes a 50% position in Electropar France, a growth capital investment company with minority positions fourteen growth companies operating across a range of sectors.

Henri Isnard, co-founder and managing partner of ARCIS, said: “Diversification and the quality of the investments in EDF Capital Investissement have been the main drivers of our interest in this transaction.”

Arcis, founded in 1993 and with offices in Paris and New York, has invested in over 220 private equity funds and directly in several portfolios of direct investments, and has completed more than 210 secondary transactions with over 500 positions purchased.

EDF’s sale came just a few days after Vision Capital, a UK secondaries investor, acquired four businesses from Northern Foods for €237m. The acquisition comprises: Fletchers Bakeries Limited (which includes the La Baguette Doree business), a UK supplier of bakery products to retailers and foodservice; Smiths Flour Mills, a flour milling business; Park Cake Bakeries, a developer and producer of cakes and desserts in the UK; and Chilled Pastry, the overall market leader in chilled savoury pastry products in the UK, which includes the Pork Farms and Bowyers brands.

The purchase was Vision Capital’s second from a corporate seller in 2006 and the second investment from Vision Capital Partners VI, a €350m fund which has a programme investment capacity of up to €1bn. The first investment was of a portfolio of four companies from AEA Technology.