Accession Capital Partners (ACP) is pleased to announce it has reached a first close for ACP Credit Fund I, the firm’s first direct lending fund to provide flexible senior funding for businesses in Central European EU countries. The fund has held a first close on €90m towards its target of up to €200m and is sponsored by ACP and C Quadrat Investment AG.
ACP Credit will focus on high-growth small- and medium-sized companies in Central Europe that are seeking to grow organically, acquisitively or to refinance existing bank debt, and is therefore a natural extension of ACP’s long-standing private debt platform. The fund will provide €5-15m per deal of senior-secured debt solutions, tailored from the full suite of senior credit products and investing primarily first lien and unitranche facilities.
The closing was supported by a mixture of new and existing ACP investors, including the European Investment Fund (through its Pan-European Guarantee Fund – Selective Loan Fund Facility) and leading European insurance companies, pension funds, banks and family offices.
The Fund is led by industry veterans Mariusz Grendowicz and Ciprian Nicolae and managed by an experienced team of credit specialists and bankers with over 100 years’ collective experience gleaned at regional banks and loan portfolios and spanning numerous economic and capital market cycles.
Mariusz Grendowicz, CEO of ACP Credit and with nearly 40 years’ experience in private corporate lending, commented, “The CE market is well placed to follow the lead of the US and Western Europe, where private debt has dominated mid-market funding for at least a decade. By cooperating to complement the regional banks’ offering, we can benefit CE’s ambitious growth-oriented entrepreneurs as well as our Fund’s investors.”