Segulah whips round investors in seven weeks

Swedish mid-market firm Segulah has closed its fourth fund on its hard cap of SKr5 billion (€543 million; $778 million).

The fund was five times oversubscribed seven weeks after embarking on fundraising.

The strong interest came as 100 percent of the mid-market firm’s limited partners in its previous €250 million fund re-invested.

Gabriel Urwitz, chairman of Segulah, said: “We did no active fundraising as investors approached us because they had been following us for many years. We looked to select a well-diversified investor base with a good geographical distribution and with different types of investor.”

The fund had no Swedish investors beyond a few entrepreneurial families, Urwitz said. The team are also large investors in the fund, having committed seven percent of the capital. Managers typically commit around two percent.

Segulah resisted the temptation to expand in size, Urwitz said. “In order to make good returns you have to stay disciplined on size.”

The fund received commitments from 16 new investors, including pension funds, insurance companies, endowments and foundations based in countries such as Japan, Australia and the United States.

The fund will invest in companies with revenues of up to SKr4 billion and values of below SKr3 billion.

MVision acted as global placement agent, while SJ Berwin was Segulah’s legal counsel.

The Nordic mid-market has proved popular with investors lately. Rival firm Litorina Kapital's latest SKr1.38 billion fund was two times oversubscribed last month.