ARX Equity Partners (“ARX”), a leading lower mid-cap focused private equity firm operating in Central Europe, is pleased to announce the first close of its fifth fund, ARX CE V (the “Fund”), with total subscribed commitments of €78 million.
The Fund, which has a target of €100 million, will continue to execute ARX’s value creation strategy of investing in lower mid-cap SMEs in selected Central European countries and includes commitments from the European Investment Fund (“EIF”) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD”).To date, ARX has completed 33 platform investments and numerous add-on acquisitions during its 27-year operating history across the region.
ARX anticipates that the majority of the Fund will be deployed within the Czech Republic, where the firm has established itself as a trusted partner for succession-driven transactions. The Czech Republic possesses highly competitive, export-oriented precision manufacturing and engineering industries and the ARX team has a long and successful track-record of investing in the country.
The Fund will also complement its strong Czech focus with additional investments in neighbouring Central European countries that offer attractive investment environments. One example of a target geography is Slovenia, where over the past decade ARX has already completed five platform investments as well as several add-on acquisitions.
The sector strategy of the Fund will be consistent with ARX’s successful track-record, with a primary focus on B2B businesses operating in areas such as manufacturing and business services. This approach is in addition to select subsectors including healthcare, education and lifestyle services.
First close investors in the Fund include the EIF and EBRD in addition to other institutional investors, several family offices and private investors respectively.