LGV closes £200 million fifth fund

Legal & General Ventures (LGV), the private equity arm of UK financial services Legal & General, has closed its fifth fund with £200 million (€297 million; $350 million) of commitments. 
 

Johnson: annual model supported by investors

LGV 5 reached its cap and includes a £90 million investment from the firm’s parent company, as well as £110 million of external commitments from third party investors. Just over half of the external commitments have come from the UK, with the remainder sourced from Europe and Canada.
 
The firm is unusual in that it operates an annual fundraising model; the latest fund follows the 2004 vintage £183 million vehicle LGV 4.
 
“The annual model is something our existing investors have supported,” Adrian Johnson, the firm’s chief executive, told PEO. “It’s quite a transparent mechanism, and has enabled us to go back to the market and gradually increase our intake of third party money with each fund.” He added that the firm’s vintage 2000 first fund included only £37 million of commitments from external investors.
 

[The annual model is] quite a transparent mechanism, and has enabled us to go back to the market and gradually increase our intake of third party money with each fund. Adrian Johnson, CEO, LGV

The placement agent for the fund was JP Morgan Cazenove. Johnson declined to comment on the reasons for the switch from MVision, the firm’s previous placement agent.
 
LGV is a London-based mid-market private equity firm with an investment focus on MBOs and MBIs of businesses with an enterprise value of more than £60 million. It focuses on the leisure, service, consumer and healthcare sectors. Its current investments include Vue Cinemas, Classic Hospitals, Verna Group Healthcare, and restaurant operator Tragus.