Polaris closes fund

Polaris Private Equity has reached a final close on its second fund on €270m, following the first close in February with initial commitments of €180m. The fund will focus on investments in small and medium-sized industrial and service sector businesses based in Denmark and southern Sweden. The fund has exceeded its original target of €210m.

Around 60% of the commitments for Fund II come from existing investors including A.P. Moller – Maersk, ATP Private Equity, Danica Pension, Danske Bank, PFA Pension and Kirkbi. The rest of commitments come from a number of new investors including Topdanmark, PensionDanmark, Lærernes Pension, Sparekassen Sjælland, Glitnir, Bagger-Sørensen & Co. A/S and a group of private investors. The private investors have joined the consortium through a separate limited partnership established through Danske Bank. Commitments are evenly distributed, and no single investor has committed more than 20% of the capital of the new fund.

Polaris managing partner Viggo Nedergaard Jensen, said: “We are very pleased with the fact that we’ve managed to strengthen our capital base by more than we had originally expected and that we now have a more diversified group of investors with the private Danish investors as a new and attractive component.”

The first Polaris fund is fully invested in a portfolio of seven businesses, of which four have been sold at very satisfactory returns. Fund I held capital commitments totalling some €210m.

Polaris expects Fund II to invest in 8-10 businesses, each with revenue of between €20m and €25m or more. To date, the new fund has invested in two businesses, AddPro AB, a Malmo-based IT business, and express delivery service Jetpak Group AB, which was acquired from the SAS Group.