LONDON — Eighteen48 Partners announced the successful first close of its Private Equity Fund I, raising €175 million while establishing a definitive target size of €350 million to focus heavily on mid-market buyout opportunities across Europe by leveraging independent sponsors for deal origination, the London-based investment firm said.
Since its corporate inception, Eighteen48 has dedicated significant resources to investing in off-market private equity deals, having already deployed more than €200 million across multiple corporate transactions since 2020 while carving out a specialized niche that remains relatively unnoticed by many institutional competitors operating within the broader European market space.
Oliver Mayer, head of private equity at Eighteen48, said the firm collaborates very closely with independent sponsors to completely bypass crowded auction processes, allowing for significantly better pricing and a much stronger alignment between incoming investors and operational leaders based on the €200 million deployed since 2020. "We see the highly aligned nature of our sponsors, as well as the structural advantages of off-market, relationship-driven deals, as key drivers of our investment outcomes," Mr. Mayer said in a statement.
Julien Sevaux, founding partner and chief executive at Eighteen48, said the €175 million first close has successfully garnered financial backing from a diverse group of existing clients and new investors, including traditional institutions, private family offices, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals contributing toward the €350 million goal. The funding structure provides committed capital directly to independent sponsors for specific corporate acquisitions, fostering direct exposure to individual portfolio companies rather than investing through a traditional fund-of-funds mechanism.
Eighteen48 will utilize the newly secured capital to significantly expand its core investment activities across Europe, concentrating specifically on a diversified portfolio of overlooked mid-market companies that hold substantial potential for delivering strong risk-adjusted returns while competing directly against peer platforms in the independent sponsor-focused sector as it works toward completing the final €350 million capitalization phase.
