Trajan and Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity teams are pleased to announce the finalising of the raising of the Transmission & Croissance 1 FPCI fund (the "Fund") dedicated to French SMEs dealing with capital and management transfer issues. The success of this fund raising, despite a backdrop complicated by the public health crisis, is due to the strength of the partnership between Trajan and Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity, and to the investment strategy’s differentiating and impactful approach. The Fund received the France Relance Label at the end of 2020 and aims to invest into French SMEs in their transfer phase by providing them with the human and financial resources necessary for their development.    
 
The Fund, which has reached €110 million, has already invested in two transactions that are emblematic of its strategy: the acquisition of a majority stake in AB Process Engineering in March 2020 and of a majority holding in La Coque de Nacre in March 2021. These transactions have been completed with two entrepreneurs selected by Trajan who have each taken the CEO role in the companies, taking over from the founders. 
 
During the raising of the Fund, Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity and Trajan were able to draw on their shared proximity to the ecosystem of French entrepreneurs and SMEs, particularly outside Paris, which strengthened the project for both institutional and individual professional investors. Each of the partners is thus making a concrete contribution to the strategy’s success: Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity by providing a network that supports entrepreneurs, its brand and its know-how, Trajan by providing its specific expertise in succession phases. 
 
Thomas Duteil and Tanguy Tauzinat, Trajan co-founders and partners, commented: "Our partnership with the Edmond de Rothschild Group is delivering on all its promises to support the roll-out of our approach. Our shared convictions and complementary expertise are a guarantee of the robustness of our strategy, which draws on our tights links with the regional ecosystems of entrepreneurs and SMEs”.   
 
Johnny El Hachem, CEO of Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity, added: "The success of this fund raising highlights the relevance of a strategy that puts women and men at the heart of a company's success and makes human capital a key investment criterion. This approach, combined with the support provided to local SMEs, has driven our partnership and has been able to convince investors wishing to give meaning to their investments”.  
 
Trajan and Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity plan to continue rolling out the Fund at the pace of two to three investments per year with equity tickets between €5 million and €15 million. Both partners will be able to benefit from a steady stream of opportunities, driven by company founders’ growing willingness to secure and pass on their businesses to a new generation of managers identified by the Trajan team within or outside their company.