Archinvest confirms its belief in private equity LBOs
After completing its 1st leveraged buy-out multi-fund and raising €20m, the digital platform dedicated to unlisted companies launches Archinvest LBO 2. This new vehicle offers a selection of 4 European managers positioned in mid-market and resilient sectors, with performances in the 1st quartile. Three are already known: Archimed, CapVest and Oakley Capital. The objective is to raise €40 million for a net IRR target of 18%.
"Archinvest LBO 2" is a French-registered FPS accessible from €100,000 over a marketing period of around 12 months. Like its predecessor, this 2nd vintage aims to offer diversified exposure to 60 to 80 underlying, mainly European, companies.
Archinvest intends to continue to enable "its hundred or so partners" (independent asset managers, private banks and family offices) to benefit from the prospects of LBO strategies, which invest in unlisted SMEs and SMIs using leverage to create value. This summer, the platform also launched its 1st US mid-cap multi-fund, "Archinvest LBO US 1", with a target of $35-40 million. We're seeing recurring demand for LBOs, a segment that has intrinsic qualities and outperforms other segments regardless of economic cycles," stresses Pierre-Olivier Desplanches, Archinvest's Managing Director. What's more, after the correction in valuations over the past two years in the wake of rising interest rates, the context seems opportune to us. Provided, of course, that we select agile and experienced players, capable of navigating in periods of low visibility." Archinvest relies on a team of 6 people dedicated to fund selection.
Archinvest's current offering also includes a private debt multi-fund, a secondary market multi-fund and a feeder, currently being marketed, for an IK Partners LBO strategy. "We're aiming for one or two new multi-funds and feeders each year," explains Nicolas Macquin, who joined Archinvest in September as executive chairman after 25 years in institutional private equity. The next feeders, however, will probably be a little long in coming. Few LBO strategies will be raising funds in 2025," says Pierre-Olivier Desplanches. But we have already identified some niche strategies.
Founded in 2022, Archinvest currently has around €300 million in assets under management, half of which in co-investments, and plans to expand into the Benelux countries and Switzerland.
