European private equity investemnt firm, Castik Capital, today announced the final close of its European Private Investment Club fund (EPIC I).

The fundraising had a first close in June 2014 at €625 million, with all investments of EPIC provided by large institutional investors. Capped at €1 billion, EPIC is reportedly one of the largest most successful first time funds ever raised in Europe.

"We are very proud to announce the close of our first fund, which was significantly oversubscribed," said Investment Partner at Castik Capital, Michael Phillips. "Our team is already making significant progress in executing our investment strategy - we are identifying targets and actively pursuing new deals."

The fund will seek investments from €300 million to €1 billion across Europe, with approximately €100 million - €250 million equity committed per deal. Unlike many other funds in the market, EPIC will remain invested for up to ten years and concentrate on a portfolio of only five to six companies. EPIC’s first acquisition was the global water dispenser company Waterlogic Plc, formerly AIM-listed, followed by a number of bolt-on acquisitions designed to consolidate the water industry and supercharge Waterlogic's growth.

EPIC is managed by Castik’s Luxembourg office, with an advisory office in Munich. The 20-strong team is led by three experienced investment partners – Michael Phillips, formerly Senior Equity Partner of Apax Partners, Dr. Marc-Oliver Jauch, formerly of Apax Partners, and Michael Gröber, formerly of Apax Partners and Montagu Private Equity.

Castik Capital also has six Senior Advisory Partners, including Dr. Michael Hinderer, previously co-founder and Chairman of Altium, and Reiner Löslein, former Director at Allianz Capital Partners.

In addition, castik recently appointed four new Senior Advisory Partners to support its growth plans: Dr. Christoph Walther, former Head of Communications at Daimler and Founder and CEO of CNC Communications; François Pauly, Non-Executive Chairman of the Management Board of Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (BIL) and Compagnie Financière La Luxembourgeoise; Hubert Jacobs van Merlen, former President and CEO of IEE; and Dan Arendt, former Senior Equity Partner at Deloitte, Board Member of RTL and CEO and CFO of RTL Luxembourg.

 

Photo by Castik Capital (Investment Partner at Castik Capital, Michael Phillips)