Funds in brief top news

AnaCap Financial Partners has reached final close of its maiden private equity fund, AnaCap Financial Partners, with total commitments of €300m. The fund size was raised to this level from the initial target of €250m in order to accommodate a significant level of oversubscribed demand.

The fund was launched in Q3 2005 and will focus on the financial services sector, a space that few in the private equity world have targeted, with funds such as Catalyst Fund Management & Research managing a first fund but failing to get as far as a second fund, and the now defunct Schroder Finance Partners, which was run by Stewart Binnie out of London. Following Schroder Finance Partners’ closure, Binnie was briefly involved in a financial services focused fund in Spain before joining Augustus Partners.

The fund will seek investment opportunities with high growth potential and/or restructuring needs in the financial services market. The core team of professionals has both operational and financial expertise in the financial services sector, with specific emphasis on asset origination, operational development, and credit and liability management.

AnaCap was founded by Joe Giannamore, who was nominated UK entrepreneur of the year in 1999 for establishing On:line Finance, an internet lender that focused primarily on auto finance, and three other principals, two former senior executives of On:line, Steve Barry, Peter Cartwright, and Finlay McFadyen, a former managing director of Terra Firma Capital Partners.

The fund was advised by Credit Suisse and was effectively raised and allocated by year-end. AnaCap was able to secure backing from private equity investors in Europe, the US and the Middle East, including Allianz, Goldman Sachs, Rothschild, Honeywell, Kodak, Westlake Investments Global and Adam Street Partners.

0Partners Group, the Swiss based global alternative asset manager, has held the final closing for its Asian private equity fund, Partners Group Asia-Pacific 2005. Demand significantly exceeded the cap of US$375m and requested allocations were reduced.

The fund expects to invest about 60% of its assets in mature Asian economies (Japan, South Korea, South-East Asia, Australia) and 40% in rapidly growing markets such as Greater China and India.

Partners Group Asia-Pacific 2005 intends to focus on buyout investments. Among the limited partners participating in the fund are insurance companies, family offices, pension plans and state organisations from the US, Europe and Asia. The fund has already committed US$142m, including 13 fund and direct investments.

“The strong interest in the fund validates the investment focus on the rapidly growing Asian market,” said Urs Wietlisbach, executive vice-chairman of Partners Group.

“The investment opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region offer unique return potential. Buyout and expansion capital transactions are very attractive as Asian deals feature lower entry multiples than in Europe and the US, combined with very strong growth rates,” said Wietlisbach.