Dublin-based private equity firm Erisbeg has raised €175m for its second fund from investors including AIB, Bank of Ireland and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund.

Erisbeg invests in Irish SMEs in the business services sector in order to help them scale in Ireland and internationally, both organically and through acquisition. The firm typically works with the existing management and shareholders.

The new fund, Erisbeg II LP, had a first close at €100m last December, but fundraising has continued until now, allowing the value of the fund to balloon by 75%.

Erisbeg's first fund, Erisbeg I LP, raised €110m in 2021/22 and made investments in six platform companies, including Medray, ORS, Dixon and Occupli. Fund I made a total of 27 acquisitions to grow its platforms with bolt-on companies.

The company exited its position in Medray in last July to UK private equity firm LDC for approximately €60m. The sale generated a return of 3x on Erisbeg's investment in the business and an internal rate of return (IRR) for the fund of 36%.

The new fund secured investments from all of the investors in Erisbeg I LP, plus additional institutional investors from Norway, Belgium and The Netherlands

Erisbeg has already made investments from Erisbeg II LP in two platform companies: EMR Integrated Solutions, a provider of integrated operational telecommunications and cybersecurity solutions for utilities and critical national infrastructure operators in Ireland and the UK' and CHM Group, a traffic management solutions specialist.

The company, which is led by partners Alan Kerr, Thomas Davy, Robert Burns and Andrew Murphy, is actively pursuing opportunities in a number of other sectors.

“This fund raise took shape in a matter of months, thanks to the support of our Irish and international institutional investors. We had an initial close at €100m in December last and a final amount of just over €175m," said Kerr, founder and managing partner of Erisbeg. 

"There was support from investors for a larger fund,  but we felt it was right to close it out now at a size we believe is perfect for the market opportunity as we see it today.

"The investments we made through our first fund are performing well and we are looking forward to further significant investments through this new fund in the months ahead.”

Photo: (l-r) Andrew Murphy, Alan Kerr, Robert Burns and Thomas Davy. (Pic: Supplied)