Exponent, a private equity firm that is behind 3,000 jobs in Ireland following a series of deals in recent years, has raised a total of £900 million (€1.04 billion) for its fifth fund.
The firm, led by Belfast-born managing partner Richard Lenane, will continue a strategy of earlier funds by focusing its investing in well-established corporate, family and founder-owned businesses, it said in a statement on Wednesday. It opened its latest fund to investors in 2023.
“As a first private equity owner, Exponent identifies the potential to double profits through several revenue-driven growth levers and has an established track record of achieving this with its portfolio companies,” it said.
Exponent, which was founded 21 years ago by four former senior directors of London-based buyout firm, 3i, has invested over €1 billion in companies in Ireland since 2012. The scale of deals in Ireland has increased significantly since it redomiciled from the UK to Dublin two years ago.
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Last year saw the firm spend €300 million taking over Galway-based generic human and animal drugs maker Chanelle Pharmaceuticals from businessman Michael Burke; pay £300 million to acquire Kingsbridge Healthcare Group, Northern Ireland’s biggest private hospital group; and invest in Dublin-based data centre designer Ethos Engineering for an undisclosed sum. These three deals are included in this fifth fund.
Exponent also controls Limerick-headquartered H&MV Engineering, a specialist in high-voltage electrical engineering.
In 2017, it shelled out a reported €250 million for Enva, DCC’s former waste management unit. New York buyout firm I Squared Capital subsequently acquired that business two years ago for the equivalent of about €690 million.
Exponent is best known in some quarters for its 2016 acquisition of the Racing Post. The publisher of the horse racing paper had previously changed hands in 2007 in a takeover deal engineered by FL Partners, an Irish private equity firm.
It is also a backer of Xeinadin, a provider of accountancy services and business advice for small firms in Britain and Ireland.
“Our ability to identify the potential for revenue-driven profit growth makes us an attractive and trusted partner for corporates, families and founders,” said Mr Lenane. “Fund V allows us to continue executing this strategy which is underpinned by discipline, subsector expertise and operational rigour.”
