Paris-based Andera Partners attracted commitments worth 430 million euros (30% from international investors), well above the 350 million hard cap, for Andrea Expansion IV (AE IV) (press release). Generali Investments poured resources in the vehicle. AE III, a fund closed in 2021, raised 250 million euros in commitments.
The team’s track record and the soundness of its strategy generated exceptional demand from the existing LPs base, with a 120% re-up rate – a sign of institutional confidence that is rare in the European small-cap segment.
David Robin, an Andera partner and head of Andera Expansion activities, said: “We could have raised a significantly higher amount, but we chose to limit the allocations of certain investors in order to maintain our position in our market segment and not to alter an investment strategy that we have been refining over more than three generations of funds.”
Expansion completed 32 divestures with a 3.6X median multiple (MoM) and allowed the funds vintage 2011 and 2016 to rank in the market top quartile with an above 2.5X net return (net MOIC) for investors.
In a market environment with sharp squeeze on valuations and reduced liquidity, Andera Expansion completed seven exits over the last three financial years, achieved an average multiple (MoM) of 6X and distributed over 350 million euros to investors. More than half of these divestments took attracted the resources of leading international industrial groups such as LVMH, Michelin, VYV and SPIE.
This value creation grounds on a systematic buy-and-build strategy, with over 100 add-on acquisitions completed across previous funds. A prime example is the Patrimmofi group, the first exit of AE III fund, which carried out 18 bolt-on acquisitions and increased its size fivefold in just four years of partnership, before VYV Group purchased it.
The preliminary metrics for AE III, that fully invested its resources within four years, highlight the robustness of the model in line with the pace of its predecessor funds. After the sale of Patrimmofi and Artemys, the fund already achieved a 0.4X DPI, even though the portfolio’s average age is just 3.5 years. Such deals confirm the team’s ability to generate liquidity ahead of the segment’s typical curve.
Partners Robin, Olivier Le Gall, Léopold Brichard and Mayeul Caron lead the 11 professionals of Andera Expansion team that will announce two new hires by the end of 2026 for further strengthening its origination and portfolio management capabilities.
Further to the fundraising, the team continued its origination activities and plans to announce several new transactions from autumn 2026 onwards, marking the launch of the AE IV fund’s investment activities.
Andera Expansion IV further strengthens the firm’s ESG commitment as a structural driver of value creation. Whilst retaining its fund classification under Article 8 of the SFDR, the fund introduces a commitment to allocate 30% of investments to sustainable assets, and 20% of the carried interest will be conditional upon the achievement of specific ESG KPIs.
Andera Expansion’s experience demonstrates that companies leading the way on ESG issues consistently achieve higher rates of organic growth and higher operating margins than their sector peers, confirming the positive correlation between sustainability and financial performance.
Andera Partners already operates in Belgium and will continue with a geographical expansion into the Italian and Spanish markets, thereby broadening its investment universe, in line with its internationalisation strategy, which significantly accelerated the firm’s European footprint over the last three years.
Andera Partners is now one of Europe’s leading multi-strategy private equity managers, with approximately 6 billion in assets under management. The firm has offices in Antwerp, Madrid, Milan and Munich for its pan-European platform of more than 130 professionals, 80 of whom are dedicated to investment and portfolio management activities.
The six complementary investment strategies are:
Andera Life Sciences, venture capital focused on therapeutic innovation and medical technologies;
Andera Expansion, Andera MidCap and Andera Co-Invest, development capital and growth equity in European SMEs;
Andera Acto, sponsorless mezzanine financing in the small- and mid-cap segment;
Andera Infra, investments in infrastructure for the green transition.
