Eurazeo is planning to launch or wrap up fundraising across at least four strategies this year as the firm plots more acquisitions to grow its business.
The Paris-listed firm will finish fundraising for Eurazeo Capital IV as early as the end of the second quarter of this year, chief executive Virginie Morgon said on Tuesday at the IPEM conference in Cannes. The Eurazeo Capital business invests in companies with an enterprise value of at least €150 million.
Eurazeo Growth III, which will be managed by professionals from the Eurazeo Croissance and Idinvest Growth teams, will launch by the end of Q2. The firm will also launch Idinvest Senior Debt 5 and Idinvest Private Debt V, focusing on senior debt and mezzanine/unitranche, Morgon added.
She declined to comment on the funds’ target sizes.
Eurazeo acquired a 70 percent stake in Paris-headquartered Idinvest Partners in May for around €230 million. The previous month the firm had acquired 30 percent of investment manager Rhône Partners.
Eurazeo could make more acquisitions to fuel its growth, Morgon said.
“We are now know for being able to embark on consolidation in our industry using our balance sheet,” she said. “We have a lot of incoming calls, which is sort of nice because it gives us a view of what’s happening in the industry.”
The firm could make geographic acquisitions of existing teams, she added.
Eurazeo has been preparing for a potential market downturn by using less leverage in deals, Morgon said.
“I don’t know whether it will be sufficient, but for sure it will be way more sufficient than whatever my competitors have done recently,” she said.”We’ve been way more conservative than our peers,” she said, adding that Eurazeo has been turning down offers for maximum use of leverage, employing 3.5x leverage if a bank offers 5x, or 5.5x where a bank offers 7x.
Private equity accounts for around €11 billion of the firm’s €17 billion in assets under management, Morgon said. The firm raised €1.5 billion in third-party capital last year, she added.
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