Size matters to CVC

CVC Capital Partners has raised Europe's largest buyout fund to date, with E4.65bn to invest.

The new vehicle gives CVC the lead in the race for largest fund raised, allowing it to overtake other large funds such as the ones run by rivals Apax Partners (E4.4bn) and BC Partners (E4.2bn). In terms of total funds managed, CVC now has E9.3bn.

The news reflects sustained investor interest in the services of Europe's leading buyout practitioners, despite an uncertain economic environment and a market place for fundraising that has become much more difficult for private equity managers to negotiate than in the late 1990s.

According to the Financial Times, CVC is close to two potentially very large transactions. Mike Smith, the firm's chairman, is quoted as saying that CVC was looking at two deals each 'in the E4bn range'. One of these is understood to originate from the telecoms sector.

Smith also told the paper that the new fund meant CVC could undertake transactions worth up to E7.5bn, provided it invested alongside a fellow buyout operator.