Plantagenet Launches $100 Million Europe Fund

Following in the wake of the US buyout market’s big hitters, San Francisco-based Plantagenet Capital Management is also targeting the European market.

The group in January launched Plantagenet Capital Management LLC, which is targeting $100 million (euro 93 million) for investment in Europe.

Plantagenet will invest mostly in France, where it recently opened an office, and plans some additional activity in France and Germany, said senior managing partner C. Derek Anderson.

Ollivier Lemal, who joined Plantagenet late last year to head its Paris office, said the European fund would benefit from three trends – the advent of the euro and the resultant transformation of industries across the Continent; an imminent wave of entrepreneurship in search of private equity capital; and family businesses founded after World War II entering their third generation of management, many of whom will be eager to cash out and pursue other careers.

Ollivier Lemal said he and his team of French advisers have a great degree of knowledge about local business practices and sensibilities, so much so that they will be able to “smell the companies” the firm is considering buying.

Derek Anderson described investing in Europe now as “a once in a generation opportunity. Four to five years from now, the European Union will be doing things no one has dreamed of”, he said.

Plantagenet hopes to raise half its capital from US investors and the remainder from European limited partners; by February, it had succeeded in rounding up $25 million from European sources. The firm is considering hiring a French placement agent to assist in its fund-raising efforts.

Among the firm’s limited partners are many wealthy individuals, who are concerned about the liquidity of their investments, To address these concerns, Derek Anderson said Caisse des Depots has agreed to act as a secondary investor for any LPs wishing to cash out of the fund. The bank is not a primary investor in the vehicle.

Plantagenet in early February acquired Champagne Albert Le Brun for an undisclosed sum.