Triton spin-out races to hard-cap on debut fund

A spin-out of Triton Partners has hit the hard-cap on its debut fund within one year of being in market.

KLAR Partners I raised €600 million in a “significantly oversubscribed” process, according to a statement from KLAR Partners seen by Private Equity International. Investors include public pensions, endowments and foundations, funds of funds, family offices and insurance companies from Europe and North America.

“We are thrilled with the level of support shown by our investment partners and the trust they have placed in us as a first-time fund in this market,” said partner Carl Johan Falkenberg in the statement.

Evercore’s private funds group advised on the fundraise with Macfarlanes acting as legal counsel. It is one of the largest European first-time funds raised in the last 10 years and one the largest such funds raised during the pandemic, the firm said, citing third-party data.

KLAR I will target buyout investments in the mission-critical services and asset-light industrial sectors of the Nordic, DACH and Benelux regions. The firm intends to be a hands-on investor, Falkenberg told PEI, enabled by its niche focus.

“If you’re sector-focused, it’s easier to pick the right companies based on pattern recognition and to bring in lessons learned from other companies,” he said. “There’s also the industry network, which is extremely important in order to effectuate positive change. It is an edge to be able to bring in very high-quality industry executives as potential chairman and so forth.”

The firm will combine this niche sector focus with a broad geographical focus for a fund of its size, helping regional players internationalise.

“I’m not great at speaking Swiss German but I can speak services with executives – sector knowledge travels very well in Europe,” Falkenberg said.

KLAR I officially launched in March 2020 and has already made two investments, the most recent of which was Sandbäckens, a provider of technical installation and servicing of sprinkler, heating and sanitation solutions for buildings.

“It is part of our strategy to always have too many deals to look at because then you can start being selective,” said Falkenberg. “[You can] select the really high-quality ones and never feel forced to a do a deal just to fill up the fund…That will build a high-quality portfolio over time.”

KLAR Partners was formed in January last year by a group of ex-Triton professionals made up of Florian Bandel, Fredrik Brynildsen, Petter Darin and Ahmet Mesinoglu, according to its website.

Falkenberg was co-head of the €14 billion buyout shop’s Nordics and business services team, affiliate publication Buyouts noted on his departure in 2018.