Dunedin receives £75m from quoted trust

Edinburgh and London-based mid-market investor Dunedin Capital Partners has received a £75 million (€110 million; $141 million) commitment to its next buyout fund.

The board of Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust has announced that it will allocate £75 million to Dunedin Buyout Fund II, the successor to Dunedin Buyout Fund I, which closed with £54 million of commitments in December 2002.

Dunedin Capital Partners declined to comment on its current fundraising plans or a target size for the new vehicle. However, managing director Ross Marshall told PEO last September that the firm planned to raised a new fund with a target size of £150 million.

Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust previously invested in Dunedin Buyout Fund I and has also taken an interest in Legal and General Ventures’ fourth private equity vehicle, LGV4 Private Equity Fund, which closed on £183 million in 2004.

The trust has also co-invested alongside Dunedin’s debut buyout fund in a number of portfolio investments, including Total Fitness Group, C.G.I. Group and Davenham Group.

Recent realisations include personal organiser business Letts Filofax Group, which was sold to Phoenix Equity Partners for £45 million in March. The sale generated proceeds of £42.2 million, a six-times money multiple and an IRR of 52 percent on the original £7.1 million investment in 2000.

In April, Caledonian Building Systems, a UK modular building business, was exited in a trade sale to Champion Enterprises of the US for £62 million, providing a money multiple of 5.8x and an IRR of 110 percent since the original £37 million management buyout in November 2003.