»Golding Buyout Co-Investment 2023« reaches hard cap at €400 million
Investors from nine European countries, particularly Germany and Switzerland, have committed to the third buyout co-investment portfolio. Around 40% of the fund volume comes from new investors. The investor base is broadly diversified and includes insurance companies, pension funds, pension schemes, cooperatives, family offices, asset managers, savings banks and foundations.
The fund invests alongside established private equity managers in small and medium-sized companies. Europe represents the strategy’s primary geographic focus, complemented selectively by investments in North America. The portfolio focuses on established and resilient growth sectors, particularly B2B services, healthcare, industrial manufacturing and technology. The strategy’s high level of selectivity is supported by a strong transaction pipeline. This is driven both by Golding’s relationships with leading private equity managers, built since 2000, and by its reputation as a trusted co-investment partner. Since 2015, Golding has invested successfully alongside leading deal teams and, as a result, continues to gain access to attractive co-investment opportunities.
»Golding Buyout Co-Investment 2023« is already the third portfolio of the successful investment strategy and has significantly surpassed the predecessor fund, which closed at €273 million. The fund is classified as an Article 8 fund under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). Sustainability considerations are an integral part of the investment process and are incorporated both in the selection of investments and in the ongoing monitoring of portfolio companies.
Ten companies in the portfolio
At the time of the final closing, the portfolio already comprised ten companies. Investments include a specialist in mobility and parking management solutions, a leading provider of alarm systems and security solutions, and a provider of testing, inspection, certification and compliance services. Two additional investments are currently in an advanced due diligence phase. The initial portfolio companies have already demonstrated positive operational development. Upon completion of the portfolio build-out, the fund is expected to be invested in approximately 30 companies, providing broad diversification across companies, sectors and regions.
Despite a challenging fundraising environment, we successfully brought the fund to its hard cap. This reflects both the strategy’s strong track record and the high quality of the portfolio already built. With a deal flow of more than 150 co-investment opportunities per year, we are able to maintain a highly selective approach. We review 30 to 40 transactions in depth and ultimately execute only 5 to 8 investments annually. This disciplined selection process has proven successful. At final closing, the portfolio already consisted of ten companies with attractive growth prospects, benefiting from long-term trends such as digitalisation, increasing compliance requirements and outsourcing.
Vaishnavi Katamreddy, Head of Buyout
The high proportion of new investors is a strong vote of confidence in our approach. Institutional investors are looking above all for reliability, access to attractive opportunities and a partner that remains highly selective, even in challenging market environments. That is exactly what our co-investment strategy is built on. The result is an attractive portfolio of companies benefiting from long-term growth trends. The trust placed in us by our investors encourages us to continue on this path.
Hubertus Theile-Ochel, Managing Partner
