South: Altitude Partners in first close of £15m fund
Altitude Partners LLP, the Southampton-based fund manager, has announced that its initial Altitude One LP fund held a first close on Wednesday April 20, having exceeded its initial target of £7 million and is well on its way to a £15m final close.
Altitude was launched last year and was established to provide equity funding and development support for businesses based in Southern England. The fund will focus on investments of between £500,000 and £3m into established trading businesses who wish to expand through organic growth or acquisition; it will also support management buyouts.
The fund represents the first full-time private equity presence on the South Coast since 3i’s Southampton Office closed in 2000.
Altitude’s funds have been raised from private investors wishing to invest in a portfolio of businesses purely focused on capital growth. Unlike private investor clubs, Altitude brings a true institutional fund approach to the private investor market, providing a complete service to its investors from deal origination, selection, investment, diligence, monitoring right through to exit. The fund will remain open to additional investors for a further period of three to six months.
Altitude Partners was set up by ex-BDO Stoy Hayward corporate finance partner Simon White and former regional director of LDC Jonathan Simm. Both have worked in the private equity and corporate finance industries for many years. The fund’s advisory panel currently consists of Michael Joseph, the former managing director of LDC, and Angela Lane, a former 3i partner.
Simon White commented: “Our investors are keen to find well-managed routes to invest in private companies that are seeing opportunities to grow, but are finding that they are unable to fund that growth by themselves. By delivering investors a full service, we can spread their exposure across a portfolio of companies and vastly reduce the time and effort that would be required for them to make individual investments. We have seen very high levels of ‘off market’ deal flow, which is key to building a strong portfolio.”
Jonathan Simm added: “The Southern Region has always provided a good level of quality businesses for investment. By being based and active in the region, we are close to the investments we make so can use our networks to provide them with enhanced opportunities. We like to work alongside our investee companies supporting their strategic decision making and identifying areas of growth as the economy strengthens. Our deal flow is very strong and we are advancing a number of transactions.”
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