Apax Partners closes $9 billion global private equity fund

20th December 2016

London and New York – Apax Partners LLP (“Apax”), a leading global private equity advisory firm, today announced the successful final close of the Apax IX fund (“Apax IX”) at its hard cap of $9 billion. The fund was raised in less than a year and, like its predecessor, is “dual currency” (USD and Euro). Aggregate commitments across all funds advised by Apax (“Apax Funds”) now total more than $48 billion*.

Apax Partners will continue to pursue its disciplined, global, sector-focused strategy of identifying opportunities across the Tech & Telco, Services, Healthcare, and Consumer sectors, where it is able to deploy a combination of capital, experience and insight to release the potential of businesses and generate growth. This sector focus is complemented by the firm’s significant digital expertise, which it draws on to invest in digital businesses as well as to accelerate the digital presence and capabilities of other Apax Fund portfolio companies.

Apax IX has already made its first two investments with the acquisition in 2016 of Dominion Marine Media, a marine industry online marketplace, and the newly signed transaction for Unilabs, a medical diagnostics business.

Apax IX received backing from a range of existing and new investors, including leading public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, fund of funds, insurance companies, endowments and charitable foundations, and high-net-worth individuals. Approximately 44% of the capital came from investors in North America, 23% from investors in Asia, 21% from European investors and 12% from the rest of the world.

Mitch Truwit and Andrew Sillitoe, co-CEOs of Apax Partners, commented: “We are very pleased to continue our relationships with our long-standing investors, as well as to build new ones with first-time investors. Their support is an endorsement of our approach to building better businesses from both a financial and operational standpoint.

“Our strategy has positioned us well to find investments at fair prices and identify situations where we can support management teams in driving operational improvements and geographic expansion. We are excited by the opportunities that we will be able to pursue on behalf of our investors with this new pool of capital.”

Since January 2014, the Apax Funds have realised more than $21.5 billion for investors with full and significant exits delivering a MOIC of 3.4x and a gross IRR of 27%; $8 billion of this was generated in 2016 alone, making this a record year for Apax. Realisations in the past year have included sales of Epicor Software Corporation, an enterprise software provider, and Trader Corp, a Canadian automotive marketplace and software solutions business. Realisations were also generated from Auto Trader, Rhiag, King, and Tommy Hilfiger China.

#ENDS#

About Apax Partners

Apax Partners LLP is a leading global private equity advisory firm. Over its more than 30-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments in excess of $48 billion*. Funds advised by Apax Partners invest in companies across four global sectors of Tech and Telco, Services, Health Care and Consumer. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For further information about Apax Partners, please visit www.apax.com.

* Funds raised since 1981, commitments converted from fund currency to USD at FX rates as at September 30, 2016.

Contacts:

Alex Wessendorff, Communications Manager Apax Partners
+44 20 7872 6461 Alex.Wessendorff@apax.com

EMEA Media Enquiries

Georgiana Brunner, Matthew Goodman or Annabel Clay Greenbrook Communications
Tel: +44 20 7952 2000
Email: apax@greenbrookpr.com

The Americas Media Enquiries Todd Fogarty
KEKST
Tel: +1 212 521 4854

Email: todd.fogarty@kekst.com