Headway, Kline Hill back Swiss GP-led as focus on DACH region continues

Headway Capital Partners and Kline Hill Partners have co-led a continuation fund deal centred on a Swiss multi-family office.

Verium transferred two Switzerland-headquartered portfolio companies into a continuation fund with SFr120 million ($121.46 million; €123 million) of commitments, including follow-on capital to develop the assets, according to a statement.

UBS Asset Management was among the other private investors to back the deal advised by Rothschild & Co.

Verium I SCSp is the family office’s first fund backed by institutional investors. So far it has made direct investments on a deal-by-deal basis on behalf of its clients. It has invested in 14 platform deals and 50 add-on acquisitions worth SFr280 million, according to the statement.

“Toradex as well as Mobil in Time performed well during our holding period and investors were able to achieve attractive returns,” said Marc Erni, partner Direct Investments at Verium. “The roll-over of these two high-quality and fast-growing businesses to a continuation fund offers a compelling investment opportunity for existing and new investors.”

Toradex Group is a provider of hardware and software for industrial applications, such as medical diagnostics. Mobil in Time provides heating and cooling solutions as well as water damage restoration services. Both are Switzerland-headquartered.

Stephenson Harwood, Wenger Vieli and CMS provided legal counsel on the deal.

The DACH region has been home to several active contributors to continuation fund deals in recent years. Last month, Secondaries Investor reported that AlpInvest Partners, HarbourVest Partners and Pantheon were set to back a more than €700 million deal to move two assets out of Deutsche Private Equity‘s 2016-vintage DPE Deutschland III.

Munich-headquartered Emeram Capital Partners has run at least two processes including a single-asset deal on digital transformation options provider Init and a similar process on German water sports and cycling company Boards & More; Switzerland-based Ufenau Capital Partners closed a continuation fund involving two assets this year; and mid-market-focused Capvis, also in Switzerland, closed its first continuation fund last year.

London-based Headway is investing its fourth flagship fund, which raised €372 million by final close in October 2019. The firm targets independent sponsor, GP-led and secondary direct transactions in Europe and North America.

Kline Hill is in market with its fourth flagship fund and debut fund dedicated to GP-led deals. It opened a Zurich office last year and brought in Elena Laleh from Partners Group to run it, Secondaries Investor reported.