Nmas 1 ventures out of Spain with second fund

Spanish buyout specialist, Nmas 1 has achieved a first close on its second fund, Nmas 1 Private Fund, its first to target international investors. The fund, which has a target of EURO200 million has raised EURO74 million so far from investors including General Electric, AIG, Axis Capital and two Spanish institutional investors. The team hopes for a second closing of between EURO100 million and EURO120 million by September and looks to achieve its final target by the end of the year.

Clifford Chance is advising the firm on the fund and the team at Dinamia has been able to draw on the law firm’s expertise in the adoption of English limited partnerships as well as its understanding of the international fund raising market.

Paz Ambrosy, investor relations manager at Nmas 1, said the new fund will invest alongside the firm’s first fund, Dinamia, which is the only private equity fund quoted on the Spanish stock exchange. The fund originally raised EURO120 million from institutional investors and currently has EURO170 million under management invested in 13 companies. It is 80 per cent invested.

Dinamia recently celebrated an exit from its 1999 investment in Isolux Wat, a former unit of the Corporacion Industrial y Financiera de Banesto and one of Spain’s leading engineering and industrial appliance companies. Dinamia invested around GBP9.5 million alongside a consortium of investors including Bridgepoint Capital (at the time NatWest Equity Partners), which invested some GBP10 million in the company for a 31.25 per cent stake. Other investors included Baring, Corpfin, Societe Generale and Credito y Docks.

Dinamia made a return of around EURO30 million on its investment, generating an IRR of 43 per cent. Had the firm not syndicated the deal, says Paz Ambrosy it would have generated a return of EURO210 million. By increasing its fund under management with Nmas1 Private Fund and investing alongside Dinamia, Ambrosy says the firm envisages doing more deals independently and syndicating less.