Spanish pioneer closes second fund of funds

Altamar Private Equity, the first and largest Spanish-based fund of funds, has held a final  closing of its second fund, Altamar Buyout Global on $575 million (€420million), exceeding its initial target.

The new fund will commit to approximately 15 to 20 buyout funds in the US and Europe, across the mid-market and large cap segments of the market.

Claudio Aguirre, co-founding partner and president of Altamar, said: “The Spanish market was very under-developed on the buyside when we launched our first fund in 2004. We spent a year educating the market. The early performance of this  fund helped this fundraising.”

The first €305 million fund bought a number of secondary positions, which mitigated the J-curve usually associated with private equity funds, he said, and helped the Spanish institutional investors become comfortable with the asset class.

Investors representing approximately 80 percent of the capital of Altamar´s first fund have reinvested in the second.

Aguirre said the investor base, which is exclusively Spanish and includes all of the top Spanish institutions, had proved attractive to the buyout managers, enabling Altamar to access oversubscribed funds such as CVC Capital Partners, BC Partners, Blackstone Group, and The Carlyle Group.

Other investments included Advent International, 3i, DoughtyHanson, PAI Partners, Alchemy, KKR, Charterhouse, Candover and Cinven.

Altamar Private Equity has also recently launched a private equity real estate fund, which will be managed by Altan Capital jointly run by Altamar alongside real estate specialist AguirreNewman

It is launching its first fund with an expectation to  raise approximately $350 million, committing  to approximately 10 to 15 private equity real estate funds on a global basis.

Altamar Private Equity was established in 2004 by three founding partners:  Aguirre, formerly head of European investment banking at Merrill Lynch based in London; Mariano Olaso, a founding partner of Vista Capital, a Spanish fund, and José Luis Molina, formerly a senior member of the European team of the Lehman Brothers merchant banking fund in London.

Kevin Albert, a managing director of Elevation Partners responsible for investor relations, joined Altamar earlier this year as a senior international advisor and as a member of the advisory board. His appointment underlines Altamar’s ambition for the future to extend its investor base beyond Spain.