CGS raises €170m for Fund III

CGS Management, a Swiss industrial specialist firm, has closed its third fund on CHF 208 million (€170 million, $220 million). 

CGS, which held a first close in March 2012, originally targeted CHF 180 million, with a CHF 200 million hard-cap. As the fund was oversubscribed, LPs agreed to increase the hard-cap to CHF 208 million, according to a statement. 

The re-up rate was approximately 80 percent, with most LPs increasing their commitments, a CGS Management spokesperson said. “One investor could not re-invest due to a change in its investment strategy,” he said. 

Approximately 25 LPs invested in CGS III. Nearly half of the total commitments were made from managers domiciled in Switzerland. The rest was shared between managers domiciled in the rest of Europe and the USA, the firm said. CGS used London-headquartered First Point Equity as a placement agent. 

CGS III has made one investment to date. In March last year, the fund acquired Rauscher & Stoecklin, a Swiss-based manufacturer of electrical components for infrastructure, in particular medium-voltage transformers and overhead switchgear for the rail industry. 

“On the backdrop of a rather difficult fundraising environment, we are delighted with the very favourable final closing of CGS III. This success is a reflection of CGS’ consistently applied industrial approach and the resulting attractive returns its funds have provided to investors,” Ashley Le Feuvre, a director of the fund’s managing general partner, said in the statement. 

The firm’s third fund is larger than its CHF 130 million predecessor, which closed in 2007, PEI reported at the time. The first CGS fund, a 1999 vintage, was CHF 60 million, according to Private Equity International’s Research and Analytics division. 

CGS Funds invests in European, technology-based companies that operate in the small and mid-sized industrial companies, according to the firm’s website.