Nordic Capital has held one of the largest fund closes in Europe with its Nordic Capital Fund XI, surpassing its hard cap at €9 billion ($8.9 billion).
The fund closed in nine months and was over 45% larger than its predecessor fund with strong demand from new and returning investors. Nordic Capital Fund X raised €6.1 billion in October 2020.
Nordic Capital attracted assets from: the Washington State Investment Board ($300 million); South Carolina Investment Commission ($54 million); and Minnesota State Board of Investment ($90 million).
“To have secured such strong commitments from both new and returning investor and robustly exceeded the fund target size in some of the most challenging fundraising conditions in private equity history is a great achievement for the team,” said Kristoffer Melinder, managing partner of Nordic Capital Advisors, in a statement. “Nordic Capital has consciously grown the fund size of the last five years in tandem with its evolving and highly focused investment strategy and strong pipeline of opportunities.”
The firm’s strategy is to invest in non-cyclical growth businesses in partnership with management and with a focus on operational improvement. Nordic Capital’s current portfolio companies on average achieved 11% organic employment growth in 2021. These same companies have on average secured an 12% increase in annual sales and 15% increase in EBITDA per year since Nordic Capital’s inception in 1989.
The firm also boasts a commitment to ESG, which it says is highly attractive to investors.
On a sector basis, Nordic Capital Fund XI will continue to apply deep and specialist experience to healthcare, technology and payments and financial services and selectively in industrial and business services. This includes mid-to-large companies in Europe and within healthcare, technology and payments globally.
The fund has already made three investments, according to Kristoffer. These investments are in in: Copenhagen-based specialty insurance under writer RiskPoint Group; Equashield, a global provider of hazardous drug compounding technologies; and in Cary Group, a leader in the repair and replacement of vehicle glass and automotive body work in Europe. The latter investment was done alongside CVC Funds in a public to private acquisition.
Over the last 12 months, the firm has maintained a strong deal pipeline, officials said. Other investments included ProGlove, Ascot Lloyd, Bilthouse, Care Fertility, RLDatix, Vizrt and Inovalon. The team also made three portfolio company exits in addition to partial sell downs in publicly listed companies.
