F&C closes mid-market fund of funds for Europe on €173m

The portfolio is managed by F&C's Edinburgh-based private equity funds team headed up by Hamish Mair.

Investors from countries including the UK, the Netherlands and Germany have committed to the fun.

Mair, head of private equity funds at F&C, said, 'The fund will invest in a range of mid-market buy-out and mezzanine funds as well as directly in private equity companies from across Europe. The mid market is attractive both from a long-term secular perspective as well as providing shorter-term cyclical opportunities to make excellent private equity investments. The credit crunch is lowering prices in the mid-market but it is still possible for the main investors to arrange debt for buy-outs; this is a good combination from an investor's point of view.'

The new fund is expected to be the first in a series of limited partnerships planned by Mair's team, which also manages the £180m F&C Private Equity Trust, a UK-listed investment trust.

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