Synergo closes fund

Synergo SGR, an Italian fund manager set up last year by Italian VC veteran Gianfilippo Cuneo and Benedetto de Benedetti, has held a final close on its maiden fund, Sinergia con Imprenditori. Two junior partners Flavio Abbondati, who joined from Permira, and Matteo Cirla from a banking background at ABN AMRO and Abaxbank, join Cuneo and De Benedetti.

The fund has raised commitments of €278m, the cap on the fund size, with a proportion reserved for co-investments. Over 20 institutional investors have invested in the fund with around 78% coming from Europe and 22% from the US. Quilvest is a cornerstone investor in the fund. Other investors include AlpInvest Partners, Banque Pictet, Electra Investment Trust, Gartmore and Stanford University.

The fund will invest in minority stakes in businesses being built by Italian entrepreneurs. It doesn’t have a specific sector focus, but will invest in companies with an enterprise value of at least €50m.

Debevoise & Plimpton acted as special counsel to Synergo. Partner Marwan Al-Turki led the team, with assistance from associates Chezard Ameer and Pasquale Vaira. Partner Peter FG Schuur provided tax advice with assistance from associate John Anderson. Alicia C McCarthy gave ERISA advice. Di Tanno e Associati acted as Italian counsel to Synergo.