Endless, the specialist turnaround investor, has closed its third fund at £220m (€249.1m) after only three weeks on the road. The new vehicle is a third bigger than its predecessor.
The firm was founded in 2005 and its first two funds have delivered top-decile returns with successful investments in businesses such as Crown Paints, Amco Group, The Works and Peter Black International.
The latest fund received investment from 15 investors based in the US and Europe, including fund of funds, family offices and pension funds. The performance, particularly of Fund II, has enabled Endless to negotiate better than market terms on fees and carry.
"In this fundraising market you never know how it will go, but the performance of our existing funds meant that our investors were eager to back our next fund and that made it easier," said Endless managing partner Garry Wilson.
Demand from existing investors alone was for a £250m fund, and expressions of interest from other investors could have seen Endless raise as much as £400m.
"We looked at this carefully and from what we could see the more money turnaround firms raise the lower their returns. We have opened an office in London, so there was some growth there, but we didn't need more capital," Wilson said.
He added: "When you are investing in turnarounds you can get hold of some big businesses with limited capital. Every time we invest it is in a crisis situation and that is hugely absorbing. We do not want to bite off more than we can chew."
Wilson said he expected Endless to make another two investments from Fund II before starting to invest from Fund III.
Endless did not use a placement agent, but did receive advice from law firms SJ Berwin and Walker Morris.
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