Global Village Fund seeks €100m

The Global Village Fund, an Irish collective asset-management vehicle advised by Dublin-based Kilcullen Kapital Partners, is targeting €100 million to invest in the hospitality, craft brewing and distillery sectors.

The ICAV structure will allow the open-ended fund, pending Central Bank of Ireland authorisation, to market in the UK, Europe and the US, Kilcullen Kapital partner Colm O’Reilly told Private Equity International.

The fund will approach sophisticated institutional investors, including pension funds, family offices, high net worth individuals and investment banks, and is seeking to raise a first tranche of €20 million.

“Currently, we have an active pipeline of prospects and aim to have two or three investments at the MoU stage before we stand before investors,” he said.

The fund will allocate about 75 percent of its capital to investing in hospitality businesses in Ireland, the UK, Western Europe, including the Czech Republic, and the US, with property assets that the fund can leverage and the potential to grow, O’Reilly said.

“It’s a property play. We’re bringing new energy with the Irish bar concept,” he said.

The fund is looking at a business in Belgium where the current owner holds 40 percent and it could acquire the remaining 60 percent with a view to expanding the number of outlets from six to 12 or 15. “This is a good example of what we are trying to do,” he said.

The remainder of the fund will be targeted and craft brewer and distillery businesses with strong management teams that require development capital, including businesses where there is potential for those businesses to supply hospitality businesses acquired by the fund.

The fund plans to invest €8 million to €10 million per transaction acquiring majority stakes of up to about 80 percent, and expects to make a total of 10 to 12 investments. It is targeting an internal rate of return of 12.5 percent.

It recently signed its first investment MoU and is moving toward due diligence, and is also close to signing a second, O’Reilly said.

The Global Village Fund is being advised by Apex Capital Introduction Services and managed by Crossroads Capital Management, pending CBI authorisation.

O’Reilly has more than 20 years’ experience in the drinks, brewing and hospitality industry, he said, noting that Lord Iveagh of the Guinness family sits on the fund’s investment advisory board.