Irish-domiciled Aspirity Partners, a next-generation pan-European private equity firm focused on growth buyouts in Financial and Enterprise Technology Services, has announced the final close of its inaugural fund, Aspirity Partners I, at over €875 million.
The fund is the largest first-time private equity fund launched in Ireland, and the third largest fund ever established in Ireland to target the European buyout market. It reached its hard cap just six months after formal launch and was significantly oversubscribed, reflecting strong demand for Aspirity’s differentiated strategy and specialist team.
Founded by Irishman Joseph O’Mara, who brings over two decades of transatlantic private equity expertise from leading institutions, and Ralph Choufani, who brings over a decade of complementary transatlantic private equity experience, Aspirity is focused on growth buyouts in Financial Technology & Services and Enterprise Technology & Connectivity Services, sectors undergoing rapid transformation driven by digitalisation, regulation, and evolving customer needs.
The Fund received strong interest from investors globally, attracting commitments from highly regarded, institutional investors across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The investor base includes leading endowments and foundations, pension funds, global family offices, insurance companies and fund-of-funds.
The Arthur Cox team was led by Siobhán McBean (Partner, Asset Management and Investment Funds) and included David Kilty (Partner, Tax), Sophie Frederix (Partner, Corporate and M&A), Ruby McEntegart (Senior Associate, Asset Management and Investment Funds) and Aoife Morgan (Associate, Asset Management and Investment Funds).
Congratulating Aspirity Partners on the successful launch, Siobhán McBean said: “We were delighted to work with Aspirity Partners on the successful launch of their inaugural fund. It illustrates the attractiveness of Ireland as a private fund jurisdiction and demonstrates the straightforward establishment and authorisation process that Irish investment limited partnerships benefit from. In light of the further enhancements that are being made by the Central Bank of Ireland to Ireland’s private funds regime in the coming months, combined with the Central Bank’s 24-hour authorisation process, we expect to see many more managers choose Ireland as their preferred domicile for European private funds.”
Founder and Managing Partner of Aspirity Partners, Joseph O’Mara, commented: “Our experience in establishing an Irish ILP has been seamless from commencement of the project through to final close. We received fantastic support from all of our Irish service providers and are very pleased to have chosen Ireland as our preferred jurisdiction for private fund establishment.”
Aspirity Partners was supported by Rede Partners as fundraising adviser; Proskauer Rose and Arthur Cox as legal counsel; IQ-EQ as fund administrator; and Standish Management as GP administrator.
