EQT’s first US-dedicated fund, EQT Mid Market US, has held a final closing with commitments of $726 million. Investors in the new fund include North America and European pension funds, insurance companies and fund-of-funds.
“The closing of a US-dedicated fund is a milestone in the overall expansion of EQT, being an integrated alternative investment firm with multiple investment strategies globally. We believe EQT’s value-add industrial approach, clear corporate governance model and global platform is distinctive in the US middle market and we believe EQT offers mid market businesses more than traditional private equity firms can offer,” said Jan Ståhlberg, Head of Mid Market US and Deputy Managing Partner at EQT Partners, Investment Advisor to the EQT Mid Market US fund.
EQT Mid Market US will make both control and co-control investments of $35 million to $140 million. Sectors of interest include industrials; consumer goods & retail; services; technology, media and telecom; energy; environment; and healthcare.
The Mid Market US investment advisory team – based in New York – is made up of 10 professionals, and is led by partners Matthew Levine and Brendan Scollans.
Two acquisitions have already been made by the new fund; FocusVision, a provider of marketing research and intelligence services based in Stamford (www.focusvision.com) was acquired in December 2015 from St. Louis-based Thompson Street Capital Partners; and XP Solutions, a provider of drainage and flood hazard analysis software based in Portland (www.xpsolutions.com) was acquired in September 2016 from publicly traded Cardno, an environmental services company based in Brisbane, Australia.
EQT Partners is based in Stockholm with other offices in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Frankfurt, Munich, New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Warsaw (www.eqt.se).
© 2016 Private Equity Professional • 10-12-16