O’Connors advises Key Capital Partners on £55m SME fund

Key Capital Partners (KCP) has first closed on a new £80m fund which aims to invest in high growth SMEs through management buyouts, equity release and development capital deals.

KCP will be seeking to invest equity sums of between £3m and £15m in profitable, dynamic businesses where there is the opportunity to double the profits of the business over a three to five year period.

The firm has secured £55m of commitments in the first closing and is confident of reaching its £80m hard cap over the coming months.

Owen Trotter, managing partner of KCP, said: “There are surprisingly few places where SMEs can secure equity investment of this size and with proposals of tighter rules on company fundraising under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Venture Capital Trusts (VCT), it is expected to soon become even more difficult.  Having established a strong track record working with entrepreneurial businesses in the lower mid market, we have developed a real expertise in this important, but underserved sector and this is where we want to be. We are now actively seeking businesses with real potential where our investment and input will result in significant growth.”

O’Connors provided legal advice to KCP in relation to the set up of the fund.