Armada IV holds first close of €70m

Nordic lender Armada Mezzanine Capital has held a first close of €70 million on its fourth fund, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Armada Mezzanine Fund IV has reached 70 percent of its targeted fund size of €100 million, drawing support from the firm’s existing and new investors.

Fund IV is backed by eight institutional investors so far, predominantly European pension funds, insurance companies and public organisations, including European Investment Fund, Finnish State Pension Fund, LocalTapiola General and Life, Finnish Industry Investment, Tradeka-Invest and Sonera Pension Fund.

It has a hard cap of €150 million and will continue with the investment strategy of Armada Mezzanine Fund III, which has invested in all the Nordic countries, typically in sponsored mezzanine, unitranche and other private debt transactions involving lower mid-market companies.

Armada’s three partners, Pertti Nurmio (pictured), Ilkka Santti and Jan Wiklund, commented: “We are happy to experience such a strong support from our existing investors of which some have been investing with us for almost 15 years. We have a very experienced team and we believe that the Nordic private debt market will continue to provide excellent investment opportunities during the investment period of Armada Mezzanine Fund IV.”

The Helsinki and Stockholm-based Armada Mezzanine is a leading provider of financing for small and medium-sized companies and buyouts in the Nordic countries, focusing on transactions with enterprise value of up to €150 million. The firm manages three mezzanine funds with a combined capital base of more than €220 million. Fund III amounts to €103 million and has made ten mezzanine and other private debt investments across all four Nordic countries.