Just before the New Year, The Carlyle Group held an interim close on its European VC/buyout hybrid fund, Carlyle Europe Technology Partners. The firm, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, closed on €101 million, crossing the half-way point to its €200 million ($242 million) target.
The fund represents the latest incarnation of Carlyle’s European venture effort that began in 1999, when the firm launched its debut European internet vehicle. Carlyle has since transitioned the fund into more of a technology-buyout vehicle after the technology bubble burst in 2001, and brought in the likes of Star Ventures Management exec Wolfgang Hanrieder and Apax Partners’ David Fitzgerald to help spearhead the new focus.
The firm has held two closes on the vehicle thus far. In its previous close, Carlyle received commitments from Barclays Funds Investments, Sieben European Growth, Rashamill SA, Pictet & Cie and individual investor Gordon Crawford. In the most recent filing, Carlyle indicated that it had picked up commitments from The Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec and Agricultural Bank of Greece.
The follow-up fund is expected to be smaller than its predecessor, as the previous fund was capitalised with €553 million in commitments.
The fund will write equity cheques of as much as €50 million in size, according to the firm’s Web site. Recent investments for the group include French instrument maker Cameca, German software vendor Personal & Informatik and UK-based Inmedia Communications, which was recently flipped through a sale to Arqiva.
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