King & Wood Mallesons has advised PAI Partners on the structuring of its sixth fund, PAI Europe VI.

PAI Partners is a major European private equity firm and is one of the largest private equity investors headquartered in Continental Europe. Having gathered more than 150 international investors from a wide range of investor types, the fundraising exceeded the initial target of €3 billion, holding a final close of €3.3 billion.

As one of Europe’s oldest and most experienced investors, PAI Partners will use the fund, PAI Europe VI, to target companies headquartered in Europe in the business services, food and consumer goods, industrials, healthcare and retail and distribution sectors.

Michael Halford, UK Head of Investment Funds, and Nathalie Duguay, Paris co-Head of Investment Funds at King & Wood Mallesons, said: “PAI Partners went to market with an attractive structure and gathered extensive interest from investors with wide geographic reach, which resulted in a very successful fundraising for our client. This fundraising played to our strength in executing a complex fundraising with our growing European network across multiple jurisdictions."

The King & Wood Mallesons' cross-border team advised on all aspects of the fundraising, including the structuring of the new fund, PAI Europe VI, as well as the regulatory and tax aspects. The firm’s extensive global network was also involved in interacting with investors and creating the fund structures in Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Italy, and Hong Kong.

The fund was led by the London and Paris offices with the full team consisting of:

London

Investment Funds partner Michael Halford and associates Vasanth Padaki, Alex Henderson and Aaron Kienwald

Tax partner Stephen Pevsner

Paris

Investment Funds partner Nathalie Duguay and associates Sarah Michel, Pierre-Charles Kaladji and Andras Csonka

Tax partners Sylvie Vansteenkiste and Raphael Béra