Apax To Replenish Coffers With Euro 1.8 Billion Effort

Apax Partners & Co Ventures is becoming virtually a permanent presence in the fund-raising market, as befits one of Europe’s longest-established and most active private equity groups. As Apax France V approached its final close in December, looking set to surpass its FFr 1.2 billion (ecu 182 million) target, Apax was preparing to raise Apax Europe IV LP, a euro 1.8 billion fund, principally for the UK and German markets.

It has taken the group little more than a year to deploy the GBP310 million (ecu 440 million) Apax UK IV Fund and its parallel investment pool and the DM260 million (ecu 132 million) Apax Germany II Fund, which together comprised Apax Europe III.

Like its predecessors, the new fund will build a portfolio that mixes early-stage, buyout and development capital investments in Apax’s chosen sectors of biotechnology, information technology, telecommunications, retail and media.

Further details on the new Apax effort will appear in the next issue of EVCJ.