Funds in brief top news

Partners Group European Mezzanine 2005 has reached a final closing at €265m. The fund will provide investors with access to direct mezzanine opportunities, primarily in European buyout transactions. The fund was heavily oversubscribed beyond its initial target size of €200m and was finally capped at €265m.

Partners Group European Mezzanine 2005 may leverage up to 40%. The offering was well received in Northern and Continental Europe as well as in the Middle East, and its investor base also includes public pension plans in the US.

• Waterland Private Equity Investments has reached a final closing of Waterland Private Equity Fund III (WPEF III). The new fund, launched in November 2005, has closed on €400m. The interest from both existing and new investors was better than expected and the fund was significantly oversubscribed.

Waterland had decided from the outset of the fundraising to cap the fund at €400m, as the team considered this to be the right size to continue successfully to implement its mid-market strategy.

WPEF III attracted a number of major new investors as well as strong support from existing investors. Existing investors were allocated the share of WPEF III they requested. Returning investors include, among others, ATP, Delta Lloyd and JPMorgan. New investors are BP Pension Fund, LGT Capital Partners and Rothschild.

The fund will make controlling investments in medium-sized companies in the Rheinland region (comprising the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany), with revenues between €10m and €150m.

MVision Private Equity Advisers acted as global placing agent and Ropes & Gray and Loyens & Loeff as legal counsel to Waterland.

• Norwegian private equity group, Norvestor Equity has held a final closing of its fourth fund, Norvestor IV LP, on €167m. Commitments have come from leading Norwegian and international investors, such as Bear Stearns, Canica Argentum, DnB NOR, Gjensidige, KLP and Telenor.

The fund will continue Norvest’s strategy of investing in buyouts and development capital investments in the Nordic mid-market. The firm typically invests equity stakes of between €10m to €30m in companies with enterprise values of between €20m and €100m.

The team has already made three investments from the fund, including jewellery retailer Panorama; SCAN Geophysical, an operator in the market for high-end 2D and small size 3D seismic surveys; and health product chain Life.

Norvestor Equity has offices in Oslo and Stockholm. The team has been investing in the Norwegian private equity market for 15 years and has invested about €300m in 51 companies.