Dublin based Private Equity Firm raises €75 million to invest in high potential Irish SMEs

Dublin based Private Equity firm, Erisbeg, has successfully raised €75 million for a fund (Erisbeg I LP) established to invest in and develop Irish SMEs in partnership with business owners.

Erisbeg worked with London based Acanthus Partners as its advisor and the €75 million for its first round of closing was raised from Tier 1 European institutional investors.

Erisbeg was set up by Alan Kerr and Thomas Davy in 2017. Andrew Murphy and Robert Burns each joined as Partners in the past three years.

The four are experienced investors.

• Alan co-founded Harbourmaster Capital which Blackstone acquired in 2012. Alan then joined Blackstone to head up its European long only credit business.

• Thomas was a senior executive with DCC plc where he led the Environmental division.

• Robert is former Group Head of Corporate Development at One51.

• Andrew founded Slainte Healthcare and Vitro Software.

Since launch in 2017, Erisbeg has completed investments in Medray (Health Equipment Distribution), BP Multipage (Specialised Wireless Communications) and Chris Mee Group / Food Safety Company (Training and Compliance). Erisbeg has also supported Medray in a transformational bolt-on acquisition in England. These investments will now be rolled in to Erisbeg I LP as seed assets.

Going forward, Erisbeg will target small-cap companies with EBITDA typically in excess of €1 million. Individual investments will be in the range of €5 million to €20 million with potential for follow on money to support growth or acquisitions.

Speaking today, Alan Kerr, Managing Partner, said: “We are very enthusiastic about the potential in the Irish SME sector. There are very solid and well managed businesses with real potential who we believe can grow significantly in the coming years. Our aim is to bring financial resources and our skillset as experienced investors to help accelerate that growth.”

“We are looking for companies in niche sectors which require additional finance to realise their potential. We help business owners by providing solutions to issues like succession and by supporting organic and acquisition growth. We enable dynamic management teams to focus on growing their business whilst retaining significant upside. ”

Erisbeg was advised by Maples Group Funds & Investment Management, EY and Deloitte .