FSN Capital launches 588 million euro continuation fund

Munich — FSN Capi­tal, a private equity company based in Scan­di­na­via and Germany, has raised 588 million euros for its “FSN Capi­tal Confluence” fund.
The newly laun­ched fund focu­ses on the re-inves­t­­ment in two port­fo­lio compa­nies whose regu­lar holding period is coming to an end.
FSN Capi­tal Confluence is acqui­ring the mana­ged IT service provi­der Nordlo and the traf­fic safety and infra­struc­ture solu­ti­ons provi­der Saferoad.
Both had been held by FSN Capi­tal Fund V since 2018. The new invest­ment by the conti­nua­tion fund provi­des both compa­nies with addi­tio­nal capi­tal and lays the foun­da­tion for the next growth phase. The fund was signi­fi­cantly over­sub­scri­bed at closing The inves­tors include leading insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors, inclu­ding inter­na­tio­nal foun­da­ti­ons, pension funds and invest­ment mana­gers, some of whom were and are alre­ady invol­ved in previous FSN Capi­tal funds.
The main inves­tor is Liech­­ten­stein-based LGT Capi­tal Part­ners; Alta­mar­CAM Part­ners and Cubera act as co-underwriters.
As a so-called conti­nua­tion fund, FSN Confluence follows a model that is still rela­tively new in the indus­try: initi­ally it was a vehicle for the conti­nua­tion of invest­ments that were diffi­cult to sell, but today it is gene­rally used to support successful compa­nies at the end of the previous fund term.
With the Capi­tal Confluence Fund, FSN aims to seam­lessly conti­nue its successful part­ner­ship with attrac­tive port­fo­lio compa­nies and thus support them on their contin­ued growth path.
“We were able to solve a common dilemma in such models with an attrac­tive cons­truct for all sides,” explains Robin Mürer, Co-Mana­­ging Part­ner at FSN Capi­tal Part­ners.
“Unusually for the indus­try, we offe­red exis­ting inves­tors the oppor­tu­nity to switch to the conti­nua­tion fund at the previous condi­ti­ons. Many took advan­tage of this status quo roll­over option, while others used the oppor­tu­nity to raise liqui­dity,” the invest­ment expert continued.
For FSN Capi­tal Confluence’s two port­fo­lio compa­nies, the re-inves­t­­ment repres­ents an oppor­tu­nity for addi­tio­nal orga­nic growth and further stra­te­gic add-on acquisitions.
Nordlo, which FSN Capi­tal formed through the merger of four Scan­di­na­vian IT compa­nies, has alre­ady made 15 such acqui­si­ti­ons and is one of the region’s leading provi­ders of mana­ged IT outsour­cing, cloud services and process digitization.
Safe­road is conside­red one of the largest Euro­pean service provi­ders for traf­fic safety.
Since the delis­ting in 2018 and the subse­quent split into Safe­road and ViaCon, the company has been on a steady growth path through FSN Capi­tal, driven by inno­va­tion, ESG leader­ship, opera­tio­nal excel­lence initia­ti­ves and stra­te­gic market conso­li­da­tion. Fred­rik Almén, CEO of Nordlosays: “The conti­nua­tion of the part­ner­ship opens up exci­ting new oppor­tu­ni­ties for further deve­lo­p­ment. With addi­tio­nal capi­tal, we can further expand Nordlo’s successful entre­pre­neu­rial model and grow through even larger acqui­si­ti­ons, both in the Nordics and in other markets.” Bernd Früh­wald, CEO of Safe­roadcommen­ted: “We look forward to conti­nuing our jour­ney toge­ther with FSN Capi­tal. We share a passion for road safety, sustainable infra­struc­ture and our goal to create value for our custo­mers, employees and society. Looking to the future, our part­ner­ship puts us in an excel­lent posi­tion to seize new oppor­tu­ni­ties and lead the way in our indus­try.” Michael Gentili, Head of Capi­tal Markets at FSN Capi­tal Part­nersadded: “Through FSN Capi­tal Confluence, the FSN Capi­tal funds reaf­firm their support and confi­dence in Nordlo and Safe­road and their manage­ment teams. It is parti­cu­larly plea­sing to have such high profile inves­tors at the helm with LGT Capi­tal Part­ners, Alta­mar­CAM Part­ners and Cubera and so many exis­ting FSN Capi­tal V inves­tors wanting to be part of this next phase of growth — we look forward to conti­nuing our jour­ney toge­ther.” André Aubert, Part­ner at LGT Capi­tal Part­ners“We have been cove­ring the secon­dary market for more than two deca­des and have focu­sed on attrac­tive, high-quality assets. With this tran­sac­tion, we are not only support­ing Nordlo and Safe­road, but also deepe­ning our part­ner­ship with FSN Capi­tal Part­ners. This crea­tes oppor­tu­ni­ties for both FSN Capi­tal V and our own inves­tors.” The advi­sers to the fund closing: Camp­bell Luty­ens and K&E About FSN Capi­tal FSN Capi­tal, one of the leading Nort­hern Euro­pean private equity firms, was foun­ded in 1999 and has four offices in Oslo, Stock­holm, Copen­ha­gen and, since 2017, Munich.
The four funds advi­sed by FSN Capi­tal have more than four billion euros under manage­ment; for the latest Fund VI, 1.8 billion euros were raised for invest­ments in Scan­di­na­via and the DACH region.
The funds make majo­rity invest­ments in growth-orien­­ted compa­nies in order to support them in their contin­ued success and to make them even more sustainable, compe­ti­tive, inter­na­tio­na­li­zed and profitable.
True to the motto “We are decent people making a decent return in a decent way”, FSN Capital’s team of more than 90 people (25 of whom are based in Munich) is commit­ted to inves­t­ing respon­si­bly, achie­ving a posi­tive ESG impact on the port­fo­lio and gene­ra­ting market-leading returns.
Current port­fo­lio compa­nies in Germany include Bäcker Görtz, MEGABAD (Swash Group), Ecovium, Lobs­ter, impreg, Adra­gos Pharma, Rame­der and TASKING.
www.fsncapital.com