Gilde Equity Management (GEM) Benelux achieves first and final close of its Fund IV at hard cap of EUR 300m

Utrecht – Gilde Equity Management (GEM) Benelux announces that it has successfully concluded a first and final close of its new fund, GEM Benelux IV (‘GEM IV’), at its target and hard cap of EUR 300m.

GEM Benelux IV will continue the firm’s successful strategy of investing in companies at the smaller end of the Benelux mid-market. Since its establishment in the mid-1990s GEM Benelux has been a leading investor in this diverse and productive market segment.

Given the strong support of the existing GEM investor base, no lengthy, traditional fundraising process nor incremental investor coverage were necessary to raise this new capital pool efficiently. All GEM Benelux III investors recommitted to GEM IV after conducting customary due diligence.

The focus of GEM IV will remain on deals with an enterprise value between EUR 20m and 200m on entry and the structure of the fund allows for maximum flexibility in deal-making across this range, allowing the team to underwrite equity tickets up to EUR 100m excluding co-investment capacity. Two separate pools of capital commitments (a core fund and a top-up fund) will enable the team to remain active at the small end of its investment range, while allowing the underwriting of more substantial equity exposures needed to execute larger deals.

Gerhard Nordemann, Managing Partner of GEM Benelux, commented: “We are very proud that all existing investors have expressed their much valued, ongoing trust in our firm by recommitting to GEM IV. The team is fully committed and excited to invest this new fund across an investment landscape we know very well and which offers many compelling opportunities to generate value for our investors.”

Loyens & Loeff provided fund formation advice to GEM Benelux on GEM IV.