New fund Afinum 9 initiated and already two transactions closed

Afinum successfully initiated its new fund Afinum 9 at the end of 2021 and already closed two new platform transactions. Thereby, Afinum continues to consistently invest in succession solutions and growth partnerships with successful entrepreneurs and managers.

Although Afinum continues to invest across all sectors, the Green Transformation vertical was established at the beginning of the year in addition to the already established investment verticals Software & Technology, Industrials, Consumer, Food & AdTech and Healthcare. The Afinum team is thus responding to market developments and actively building in-depth expertise in a segment in which promising investment opportunities are increasingly emerging and in which Afinum intends to actively fulfill its role as a responsible investor.

The targeted transaction sizes for platform deals remains at around EUR 40 to 150m with equity investments of around EUR 25 to 75m each. The new fund Afinum 9 has already reached committed capital of over EUR 300m. There will be further commitment step-ups in the coming months, with a self-set maximum target volume of not more than EUR 450 to 500m.

At the end of 2021, the first two platform transactions for Afinum 9 have already been closed. In addition to Fishing-King, a leading e-learning platform for fishing exams and advanced training for fishing professionals in German-speaking countries, Afinum also acquired a stake in the Swiss company GS Swiss, a leading manufacturer of highly miniaturized printed circuit boards (PCBs). The investments were structured as majority acquisitions together with the founder or management to accompany the companies in their next growth phase. The Afinum team is currently working on further attractive opportunities and expects to close three more platform transactions in the current year.

In addition, the last platform investment for the fund Afinum 8 was closed with Tisso in the fall of 2021. The portfolio companies Perfect Drive Sports Group, evitria and Garz & Fricke from the funds Afinum 7 and Afinum 8 were exited very successfully last year. In total, Afinum was able to return around EUR 400m to its investors and again invest around EUR 150m in new platforms over the last 12 months.