Funds

IK celebrates bumper fundraising year

After closing its debut small-cap fund in March, the European firm has hit the €1.8bn hard-cap for its latest flagship fund.

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IK Investment Partners has raised €1.8 billion for its latest flagship fund. The firm, which invests in companies in Northern Continental Europe, started formally marketing the fund in March with a €1.6 billion target, and by September had fully allocated it up to its hard cap. The firm held a formal final close last week.
 
The firm has committed €50 million of its own money – equivalent to around 3 percent of the total fund size – bringing the total investable capital to €1.85 billion.
 
The rapid fundraise follows the successful launch of its small-cap fund programme, for which it closed its debut fund on €277 million in March this year. The total of more than €2.1 billion in new capital represents the most successful fundraising year for the firm since inception.
 
For the first time in its history, IK raised the fund without the assistance of a placement agent. Mads Ryum Larsen, who leads investor relations for the firm, told PEI that the firm felt it had sufficient support from existing investors and enough momentum from some successful exits and the close of the small-cap fund to raise the capital using its in-house resources.
 
The firm used Campbell Lutyens to place its small-cap fund earlier this year.
 
Fundraising was largely unaffected by political turbulence in Europe, Ryum Larsen told PEI. “We held a first close in July, just after the Brexit vote. A couple of European institutions at the time expressed some concerns about the European situation, but ultimately both ended up committing,” he said.
 
North American investors, which account for 37 percent of the fund's capital, were not particularly concerned about political movements in Europe, he added.
 
54 percent of the capital was raised from European institutions, 2 percent from Asia and 5 percent from the Middle East.
 
IK VIII Fund has a hurdle rate of 8 percent and is charging management fees of 1.75 percent and 20 percent carried interest. Investors in the fund include the New York State Teachers' Retirement System, New York State Common Retirement Fund and ICG Enterprise Trust, according to PEI data.?