Apax Partners, the Paris-based mid-market firm, is looking to expand its healthcare portfolio outside France with the appointment of a new partner.
Marc Benatar joined from Brussels-based direct private equity investment platform Kharis Capital, according to his LinkedIn page. He spent eight years with 3i Group’s healthcare team in London and Paris and 10 years in General Electric’s healthcare division.
Benatar, who is Belgian, will help the firm expand its healthcare business to include companies in Benelux, Italy and French-speaking Switzerland, as well as France, he told Private Equity International. Although the firm has previously completed healthcare investments outside France, these have been pan-European players, he noted.
“Benelux and Italy are two areas that are very active in terms of entrepreneurship and medium-sized companies, particularly in healthcare,” Benatar said. “Three deals were done in those geographies in 2018 and the ambition is to do healthcare deals there as well.”
Apax – not to be confused with London-headquartered Apax Partners – expanded into Italy last year with a new office and appointed a senior advisor for Benelux, according to its website. It has so far invested in a strategic consultancy and a fuel electronics specialist in Italy, and Dutch internet connectivity provider Expereo.
Its healthcare portfolio comprises a majority stake in French medical technology firm Amplitude Surgical and compatriot Teknimed, an orthopaedics manufacturer. Apax formerly held stakes in Swiss diagnostics provider Unilabs, which operates across 12 countries, and Sweden’s Capio, which is active in five European countries.
Apax has deployed around 70 percent of its €1.03 billion Apax France IX, a 2016-vintage, Benatar noted. Besides healthcare, it targets the consumer, services and TMT sectors, and has €3.3 billon under management.
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