Andera Partners has closed its fourth Andera Expansion fund (AE IV) at €430 million, setting a new fundraising record for the growth-focused strategy and coming in well above its original €350 million hard cap. The cap was raised twice to accommodate strong investor demand, following the €250 million AE III fund, which was also oversubscribed and closed within 12 months.
The Andera Expansion team’s performance track record was a key driver of the fundraise. Across its first two vintages (2011 and 2016), the team has completed 32 exits with an average multiple of 3.6x and net investor returns above 2.5x, placing those funds in the top quartile of the market. Despite a backdrop of market uncertainty and tighter liquidity, the strategy delivered seven exits over the past three financial years at an average multiple of 6x, generating more than €350 million in distributions and demonstrating consistent execution on announced exit plans.
Many of these exits have been to leading industrial and strategic buyers, including groups such as LVMH, Michelin, VYV and SPIE, highlighting the team’s focus on enhancing strategic value for portfolio companies. A systematic buy‑and‑build approach underpins this value creation, with more than 100 bolt‑on acquisitions completed to date. For example, Patrimmofi, the first exit from AE III, completed 18 acquisitions and grew to five times its original size over four years of partnership with Andera Expansion. AE III, closed in late 2021 and fully invested within four years, already has a DPI of 0.4x after just two exits, even though the portfolio’s average age is only 3.5 years.
Investor support for AE IV was particularly strong, with a re‑up rate of 120% from existing LPs. The new fund also features a broader international investor base, which now accounts for more than 30% of commitments. To support deployment, the Andera Expansion team—currently eleven professionals, including partners David Robin, Olivier Le Gall, Léopold Brichard and Mayeul Caron—plans to add two new hires by year‑end.
AE IV further embeds ESG considerations into the strategy. While retaining Article 8 status, the fund will allocate 30% of its capital to sustainable assets, and 20% of carried interest will be contingent on meeting ESG targets. Andera Expansion notes that companies most advanced on ESG tend to deliver stronger growth and profitability versus peers, reinforcing its view of ESG as a performance driver rather than a constraint.
The team intends to remain focused on its established approach: backing primary growth LBOs in niche sectors and B2B services, and helping management teams scale through active support. Building on its existing presence in Belgium, Andera Expansion plans a gradual expansion into Italy and Spain to broaden its investment universe in line with Andera Partners’ accelerating international development. Initial investments from AE IV are expected to be announced starting in the autumn.
KEY QUOTES:
“We had the capacity to go beyond this amount and had to limit certain subscribers’ allocations, as we did not want to change our market segment or alter our investment strategy, which we have mastered over more than three generations of funds.”
David Robin, Partner in charge of Andera Expansion
“We remain focused on the investment strategy we have been developing for over fifteen years: backing primary growth LBOs in niche industries and B2B services, and enabling their management teams to scale up through the active support of the Andera Expansion team. Building on our already established presence in Belgium, our development will be accompanied by a gradual opening towards the Italian and Spanish markets to expand our investment universe, consistent with Andera Partners’ development plan, which has been accelerating its internationalisation for three years.”
Andera Expansion team
