ECI raises £500m for 10th Fund

09/09/2014
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ECI Partners is delighted to announce the final closing for its tenth buyout fund, ECI 10, at the hard cap of £500m. ECI launched its latest fundraising in early April 2014 with a target fund size of £400m and closed at the hard cap of £500m five months later, having been significantly oversubscribed.

The Fund was raised predominantly from its existing institutional investors, who have contributed 80% of the capital, with an average increase on prior commitments of 33%. ECI is delighted to also welcome five new investors to this partnership. ECI 10 therefore comprises a total of 25 institutional investors from the UK, US, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. They include leading pension funds, fund of funds, insurance companies, endowments, family offices and sovereign wealth capital.

Founded as Equity Capital for Industry in 1976, ECI has now raised over £1.6bn of external capital since launch and is one of the UK’s longest-established private equity partnerships. This close also makes ECI the first private equity firm investing in UK-headquartered companies to raise a tenth buyout fund focused on the same strategy.

ECI 10 is a successor fund to ECI 9, a £437m fund which started investing in 2010, and will seek to employ the same investment strategy focused on growth buyouts with an enterprise value of between £10-150m.

“We would like to thank our existing and new investors for their strong support. 80% of the capital raised for ECI 10 has come from existing investors, some of whom have now been investors with ECI for over 20 years. We are also delighted to welcome our new investors and look forward to developing long-term relationships with them.

ECI is a proven investor in UK mid-market growth companies over many decades. Our success and this latest fundraising are a reflection of the quality and ambition of the management teams we have partnered with over the years”.

Sean Whelan

ECI Managing Partner

About the author

Sean Whelan

"I joined ECI in 1998 having spent my early career in consulting with Gemini and Bain and Company, following a degree in Economics from Cambridge University. I am currently Chair of the Investment Committee and sit on the ECI Board, with responsibility for the Commercial Team."

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About the author

Jeremy Lytle

"I am responsible for ECI’s investors across our current buyout funds, and prospective institutional investors for the future. I enjoy building these long-term relationships and being able to tell the stories about the great businesses we’ve backed."

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