Nordic Mezzanine launches Fund II

Nordic Mezzanine has unveiled its most recent offering, Nordic Mezzanine Fund II specialising in mid-market buyouts and expansion capital like its predecessor fund. The investment focus of the fund will be in the Nordic region and Germany.

The target is to raise in excess of EURO200 million, double the size of the first fund. It will be managed by Nordic Mezzanine from offices in Helsinki and London.

Pekka Sunila of the firm is confident: “It is still early days. We have just launched the fund, but we do think it’s doable in these market conditions.” Nordic pension funds will have a strong role in the fund, as was the case with the previous fund and Sunila anticipates a good response from existing investors.

The fund is structured as an English limited partnership.

Sunila anticipates significant opportunity emanating from the Nordic region. “There is demand for mezzanine at the moment in these regions as the banks have been very conservative with lending. We saw a lot of opportunities and thought now was a good time to go for the second fund. We hope for a close some time next year.”

He doesn’t anticipate fierce competition in the sector. There are a couple of banks that have been active and one or two captive funds. SEB and Finvest are both prominent players in the Nordic mezzanine market.

Nordic Mezzanine’s first fund is almost fully invested in six companies in 10 different investment situations.