For private investors and many institutional investors, it is complex, if not impossible, to invest alone in small or medium-sized companies abroad. Given the number of funds and the significant differences in performance between them, it is difficult to identify and select the best performing funds outside France. As a result, access to the European lower mid-market is in practice only possible via an intermediary investment structure managed by professionals:

• to solve the problem of access to targeted funds that are often small and not very visible
• to implement a fund structure and the professional expertise required for selection
• to have access to a dealflow of direct investments.deriving from these contacts.

Since 2007, Bluester Capital has sought to systematically identify and analyze all investment opportunities in lower mid-market funds, particularly in Northern Europe, thus creating an unrivalled network of teams operating in this segment.
Through Bluester Capital, our investors also have access to a geographically diversified portfolio of direct investments in SMEs.

There are hundreds of funds positioned on the European lower mid-market. Over the last thirteen years, the Bluester Capital team has developed an in-depth knowledge of this universe. It meets regularly with the various management teams and thus constantly updates its analyses of the funds that fit with its investment strategy. It is also constantly monitoring the emergence of new players (“first time funds”), particularly those coming from well-established funds in the market, which can be high-performing funds given the combination of experience and strong motivation of their managers.

The smallest funds often depend on a few key partners within an investment team. Having a long experience in direct investment allows for a better appreciation of the profile of the key partners as well as their working methods, the functioning of the team and its risk culture.

In addition, the Bluester Capital team is able to quickly and professionally analyze any investment proposal made: analyzing the investment memos and the due diligences ; reviewing the models and sometimes even involving its own network.

Bluester Capital offers a set of characteristics rarely found in a single fund:

• a focus on the LBO lower mid-market, which is the segment offering the highest recurring profitability,
• a mix of primary and secondary investments in funds, and direct investments alongside the funds,
• a broad geographical diversification: France, United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Holland, Germany and German-speaking Switzerland and more pragmatically Spain, Portugal and Italy,
• a management team with effective experience in direct investment, which represents an advantage both in analysing funds and in making co-investments and supporting them.