GHO Capital Partners doubles its last raise, closing on a massive $2B-plus to advance European healthcare
Back in 2019, GHO Capital Partners claimed it closed the biggest-ever private equity fund focused on European healthcare, raising a mammoth $1 billion-plus. Now the firm is closing its next fund with double that amount.
GHO Capital raised $2 billion-plus under its third fund, GHO Capital III, which is closing less than four months after entering the market, the firm said on Tuesday. The fund, which drew support from both new and old investors, blew past GHO’s initial target of about $1.47 billion (€1.25 billion).
“We have seen unprecedented deal activity in our portfolio and the sector at large,” GHO partners said in a statement. “Our pipeline is more active now than ever before.”
Since it was founded in 2014, GHO has pumped around $2.9 billion (€2.5 billion) into 14 platform companies in the pharmaceutical, medtech, patient services and outsourced services space. That includes active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) developer Sterling Pharma Solutions and the ophthalmic-focused VISUfarma. The firm says it prioritizes companies that “enable better, faster and more accessible healthcare.”
Following several strong years, biopharma activity increased in Europe amid the pandemic, a 2020 report by Bain & Company suggests. Last year saw a total of 35 deals, up from 24 in 2019, according to the report.
“The pandemic has served to highlight the strong, secular sector tailwinds that guide GHO’s investment thesis: an ever-growing need for better, faster, more accessible healthcare,” the partners said.
In addition to the fund, GHO has added 12 new team members in the last year and a half, and is now opening a US office in Research Triangle Park, NC, which it hopes will accelerate growth opportunities for European businesses into North American markets.
GHO is run by three managing partners: Mike Mortimer, a former Quintiles executive; Alan MacKay, who served as a senior partner at 3i Group; and Andrea Ponti, who previously was with JP Morgan.
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