Adveq, the big Swiss private equity fund of funds manager, has made its first investment in an Australian private equity fund.

Adveq is understood to have committed about $10 million to a raising by Ironbridge Capital, to be invested in a range of growth-orientated companies, typically in the $150 million to $750 million range. Adveq, which has raised more than $1 billion from the Australian institutional market in the past three years, is a global private equity manager but to date has targeted investments mainly in Europe and the US. The allocation is from Adveq’s new Asia 1 fund which is still open for Australian investors. Julian Knights, Ironbridge managing director, said that the group had the capacity to target much larger transactions where appropriate opportunities arose, drawing on the strength and underlying support of its investor base. Ironbridge Fund II will focus on transactions ranging from buyouts of divisions of large conglomerates to family-owned businesses to public-to-private transactions. International investors in Ironbridge Fund II are drawn from Asia, North America and Europe, many of whom are first-time investors in the Australasian private equity market. Ironbridge believes it is the first Australian private equity manager to secure broad investor support from Japan, with four Japanese institutions investing in Fund II. Australian investors include clients of Wilshire Private Markets group, Industry Funds Management, Macquarie Funds Management and its clients and a number of major Australian Superannuation Funds including: UniSuper, Telstra Super, ARIA and Australian Super. Adveq is represented in Australia by Shed Enterprises.