AshGrove Capital raises €650m for second fund
European specialty lender AshGrove Capital has announced the €650m (£538m) final close of AshGrove Specialty Lending Fund II, surpassing its €500m target.
The final close of this fund marks a 100 per cent increase in fund size compared to AshGrove’s inaugural fund, which raised €300m by its final close in late 2021.
AshGrove was founded five years ago by Jon Ferguson, Phil Fretwell, and Ilkka Rantanen (pictured, from left to right), who have held senior roles in setting up and leading parts of Ares, SixthStreet and Goldman.
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The firm said that Fund II achieved a 107 per cent re-up rate among existing limited partners and secured more than €325m in new capital commitments. Over 40 per cent of Fund II capital comes from US-based investors.
The fund counts pension funds, endowments and foundations, insurance companies, family offices and fund of funds among its investor base.
AshGrove specialises in lending €10-50m of senior secured debt capital to businesses with robust business models and a high proportion of recurring revenues. Fund II has already committed around 20 per cent of its capital across five investments and has a strong pipeline of further opportunities, the firm said.
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“As an independent firm started from scratch just five years ago, doubling our fund size and hitting the hard cap is a huge milestone,” said AshGrove co-founder and partner Phil Fretwell. “None of this would have been possible without the skill and determination of our team.
“When we established the firm, we saw a structural opportunity in the European lending market to back small and medium sized companies with resilient, non-cyclical business models within B2B software and services. We believe access to credit should not be a function of business size, but quality of business model. We are enormously grateful that our existing LPs and many new investors share our vision and believe in our ability to continue delivering on that opportunity.”
Rede Partners acted as global fundraising advisor and Weil, Gotshal & Manges acted as legal advisor for AshGrove Specialty Lending Fund II.
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