European Capital raises E700m.

American Capital has raised E201m in commitments for its European arm, European Capital, from a group of institutional investors.

The firm also announced that it was investing E499m in the new fund, which is to be managed from Paris, bringing the total equity commitments to E700m. The stated target in May when the launch was announced was E1bn.

European Capital, which will draw down the commitments over the next two years, will focus on providing finance to mid-cap LBOs, and will make direct investments as well as providing mezzanine, with an investment range of E5m to E125m for companies of an enterprise value of between E20m and E250m.

A product offered by the firm is the “one stop buyout”, which will provide equity, mezzanine and senior debt. American Capital carried out such a deal in France last year, the E55m investment in synOdis group.