Intermediate Capital Group breaks €30bn AUM barrier

Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) on Thursday reported a strong first quarter, with success driven by increases in the firm’s assets under management (AUM) and four prospective new deals.

The company increased its AUM to €32.9bn over the quarter ended 30 June, up 15% on 31 March, and reported that deployment remains strong across strategies.

Benoit Durteste, chief executive, said: "As anticipated, the new financial year has started strongly with AUM breaking €30bn driven by fundraising for Europe Fund VII which is currently 48% larger than its predecessor fund. The size of the fund demonstrates our ability to scale our proven strategies."

The Europe Fund VII has a higher fee rate than its predecessor fund and, with fees charged on committed capital, has resulted in an immediate increase in the FTSE traded company’s profits.

In addition to Europe Fund VII, ICG completed fundraising for its North American Private Debt Fund with an additional €280m taking it to its maximum size of US$1.35bn, including $150m from the balance sheet.

"Our increasing size and market presence is allowing us to source attractive investment opportunities for our funds, without compromising on our investment discipline. Our focus remains on deploying capital and raising new funds, while selectively using our balance sheet to add to our range of scalable strategies," said Durteste.

The firm has also signed four deals to take the ICG Europe Fund VI to 100% invested, and ICG Europe Fund VII to 28% invested.

Analysts from Numis said: "Fund deployment remains strong with Euro VI now fully invested and Euro VII already 28% invested. We do not anticipate making any material changes to our forecasts for FMC, where we expect 34% PBT growth this year."

Intermediate Capital Group’s shares were up 1.20% at 1,093.00p at 1156 BST.