Eighteen48 Partners has successfully completed the first tranche of EUR175 million for its European mid-market buyout fund.

      TL;DR Eighteen48 Partners has secured EUR175 million for the first tranche of its inaugural private equity fund, aiming for a total of EUR350 million. The London-based firm focuses on mid-market buyouts in Europe through independent sponsors and has invested over EUR200 million in this strategy since 2020. This capital raise comes as the independent-sponsor model gains popularity in Europe, following a decade of growth in the US.

      Eighteen48 Partners, an alternative asset management firm based in London and co-founded by Julien Sevaux, Tarek AbuZayyad, and Edward Clive, has successfully closed €175 million for the first tranche of its first private equity fund. The fund aims to raise a total of €350 million and will support mid-market buyouts across Europe, with all deals sourced exclusively through independent sponsors—dealmakers who identify and negotiate acquisitions prior to securing capital, as opposed to operating from a pre-established fund.

      The initial close was supported by a diverse group of existing clients, including institutions, family offices, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Since 2020, the firm has invested more than €200 million in independent-sponsor transactions, marking this fund as a formalization of a strategy the team has practiced for six years rather than a fresh start.

      The model’s operation

      Independent sponsors fill a unique niche in private equity. Unlike conventional buyout firms which raise a blind-pool fund and then seek out deals, independent sponsors first identify a specific acquisition target and then seek financial backers to fund it. This approach allows investors to see the precise deal conditions before investing, rather than relying on a general partner to allocate a fund over several years with limited guidance.

      For sponsors, the trade-off lies in the risk of managing deals without guaranteed financing, which can confine this model to seasoned operators with solid networks. For investors like Eighteen48, the benefit is gaining access to off-market deals that bypass the competitive bidding processes typical in most mid-market private equity transactions. Oliver Mayer, Eighteen48’s head of private equity, highlighted the structural benefits of these relationship-driven deals as a significant contributor to the firm's returns.

      A model making its way to Europe

      Independent sponsors have been a well-established presence in the American private equity scene for over a decade, but they represent a newer trend in Europe. Several factors are leading to this adoption, including seasoned dealmakers leaving established firms to work independently, family offices seeking more direct investments in private companies, and a broader reconfiguration of European capital markets encouraging more flexible arrangements. Furthermore, the EU's initiatives to revamp startup funding have also normalized the concept of European companies requiring diverse capital sources beyond traditional fund managers.

      According to IPEM, the body representing the private equity industry, Europe now boasts a growing ecosystem of independent sponsors, and more such deals are anticipated by 2026 as the fundraising landscape for traditional blind-pool funds remains tough. Nearly 70% of European private equity professionals surveyed indicated plans to invest more capital this year, with 87% seeing 2026 as a favorable year for deal-making, reflecting the most optimistic outlook in five years.

      Eighteen48’s counterparts focusing on independent sponsorship include Kartesia, managing nearly €6 billion in private credit strategies, and Idinvest Partners, a pan-European mid-market investor. Eighteen48 differentiates itself by having invested directly in independent-sponsor deals for six years prior to launching a formal fund, providing it with a track record that many first-time fund managers do not possess.

      The founders

      Sevaux, the firm’s founding partner and CEO, co-founded Stanhope Capital in 2004. He, along with his co-founders, established Eighteen48 in 2019 as a “next-generation private investment office,” a platform that manages capital across both public and private markets for families and institutions. The private equity fund is the first external vehicle they have raised, reflecting both the expansion of their independent-sponsor deal pipeline and the growing institutional demand for European mid-market investments.

      With a target of €350 million, the fund is modest by global private equity standards but significant for the independent-sponsor sector, where deal sizes typically fall between €10 million and €150 million. If fully raised, it would position Eighteen48 as one of the larger dedicated capital providers for independent sponsors in Europe, a timing that could be advantageous should the current momentum in European deal-making persist.

      Sevaux remarked that the fund “formalizes a highly differentiated strategy” the firm has been pursuing for several years. In a competitive market where most private equity firms chase the same auctioned assets, Eighteen48 is banking on the notion that the overlooked deals are often the most valuable ones.