UK lower mid-market firm Livingbridge is set to close its latest fund on its £660 million (€779 million; $869 million) hard-cap next month, Private Equity International has learned.
The fund is nearly twice the size of its predecessor, which closed in 2012 on £360 million. At that time the firm was called ISIS Equity Partners.
Last month Private Equity News reported that the firm has collected £600 million for the vehicle and that it was expected to close on £650 million in August.
Today Livingbridge announced it has exited its remaining stake in corporate travel management company Reed & Mackay.
Livingbridge first invested £4.87 million for a significant minority stake in the business on behalf of the Baronsmead VCTs in 2005. The firm then sold the company to ECI Partners in 2011 in an exit yielding a multiple of 4.8x and an internal rate of return of more than 35 percent for Livingbridge investors and the Baronsmead VCTs.
Livingbridge reinvested in the business alongside ECI and now both firms are selling to fellow UK-focused private equity house Inflexion Private Equity. This transaction will generate a multiple of invested capital of 3.4x for ECI and Livingbridge investors.
ECI invested in the company using capital from its ninth fund. Following this divestment there are nine portfolio companies left in the vehicle. ECI is currently investing its tenth fund, which closed on its £500 million in September 2014 after five months in market.
Among its LP base are Villanova University, California State Teachers’ Retirement System, Capital Dynamics, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, and the British Airways Pension Scheme, according to PEI data.
ECI 10 is around 40 percent committed across five investments: salary sacrifice car scheme provider Tusker; specialist cycling retailer Evans Cycles; pet food retailer MPM; audio and screen media supplier Imagesound; and strategic services company IT Lab.
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