FSN Capital closes fourth fund on €600m

 FSN Capital, a mid-market private equity firm in the Nordics, has reached its SEK 5.25 billion (€600 million, $812 million) hard-cap on its fourth fund.

FSN Capital IV, which came to market in March, was “substantially oversubscribed”, according to a statement.

The firm, which held an undisclosed first close in July, said it had attracted a diverse group of investors; including public and private pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, foundations, endowments, government agencies, asset managers, banks and funds of funds.

FSN was also able to broaden its international investor base, signing up LPs from Asia, Australia, Canada and the US. Approximately 21 percent of the capital came from LPs based in North America, 14 percent from Asia and Australia and 30 percent from Europe excluding the Nordic region. Scandinavian LPs accounted for the remaining 35 percent of the capital raised.

FSN’s managing partner Frode Strand-Nielsen said the firm was “delighted” to close the fund on its hard-cap “in what remains a challenging fundraising environment”.

The firm’s latest fund is nearly double the size of its previous fund, a €375 million 2008-vintage. Fund IV will continue to target control buyout investments of Nordic mid-sized growth-oriented companies operating in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. FSN targets businesses with enterprise values typically between approximately €50 million to €250 million.

“This fundraise is evidence that there remains appetite for good quality Nordic funds. FSN has proven to investors that it is the only pan-Nordic fund that invests in their part of the market and this has been appealing to pension funds especially. Most of the other pan-Nordic funds are rather larger than FSN,” Andrew Bentley, a partner at Campbell Lutyens, which was hired by FSN to raise the fund, told Private Equity International.

FSN’s fund close comes at a time when a number of other players are trying to collect capital to invest in the Nordics. Herkules Capital is currently in market targeting NOK 6 billion (€760 million, $990 million) for its Private Equity Fund IV. Nordic Capital is still attempting to wrap up fundraising efforts for its eighth buyout fund. It began marketing the fund in April 2012, held a €1.7 billion first close in February 2013 and is expected to close the fund soon. Additionally, Adelis Equity Partners, IK investment Partners and Triton all closed funds earlier this year.