Eurazeo raises €1bn for fourth secondaries programme

Eurazeo has closed its fourth secondaries programme, which it adopted through the acquisition of French compatriot Idinvest Partners.

The listed asset manager has raised €700 million for Idinvest Secondary Fund IV and €300 million of additional capital from private individuals, according to a statement. The main fund was targeting €600 million.

The programme is already 36 percent deployed in mature secondaries transactions in the “under-exploited” European mid-market, the statement noted.

The success of the fundraising reflects the firm’s market positioning, track record of executing complex transactions and the sourcing and execution capabilities of the Eurazeo platform, said managing partner and head of secondaries Christophe Simon.

Fund IV launched in January 2020, according to Secondaries Investor data. Its 2016-vintage predecessor raised €442 million against a target of €400 million.

In 2017, Idinvest managing partner and chief executive Christophe Bavière told Secondaries Investor that GP-led restructurings were the “core” of its secondaries business, accounting for 80 percent of the deals made by Fund III up to that point.

Among the deals it has backed in recent years are the restructuring of two funds managed by Three Hills Capital Partners and a GP-led process on German private equity firm Halder’s 2008-vintage fund.

Eurazeo bought the remaining 20 percent stake in Idinvest last year, having acquired a majority position in 2018.

In 2020, Lexington Partners and Strategic Partners backed a deal to move a strip of assets off Eurazeo’s balance sheet into a closed-end vehicle as part of a plan to grow its third-party assets under management. The vehicle was worth €340 million, including follow-on capital.

Speaking at a roundtable at the IPEM 2020 conference in Cannes, chief executive Virginie Morgon said that Eurazeo would continue to seed funds using strip sales in its private equity and perhaps other businesses.