Mérieux Equity Partners has held a first close of its new healthcare‑dedicated buyout fund, Mérieux Participations 5 (MP5), at €335m out of a €600m target. The fund builds on the firm’s established positioning in specialised healthcare investing, focused on the European lower midmarket and supported by Institut Mérieux’s global network.
“This first closing is a strong mark of confidence from both new and existing investors in a strategy we have built and refined over successive vintages,” said Jean-François Billet, managing partner & head of Buyout. “Our conviction is that healthcare in the European lower midmarket offers great potential for companies with genuine international ambition, and we already have a strong pipeline of new investment opportunities under review.”
MP5’s strategy centres on four pillars – Better Prevention, Better Innovation, Better Cure and Better Care – which shape thematic sourcing and portfolio construction. The fund targets European lower‑midmarket companies with scientific or technical complexity that create defensible market positions, and international scaling potential. Value creation is expected to come primarily through operational improvement and access to the firm’s global ecosystem, with M&A used selectively as a growth catalyst. Proprietary sourcing and primary buyouts account for most deal flow.
MP5 follows MP3 (2018, €377m) and MP4 (2021, €568m), both of which built significant European exposure: 33% of MP3 and 58% of MP4 investments were completed outside France, including Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Italy and Switzerland.
The close comes four months after the start of fundraising, a process supported by the performance of the firm’s earlier buyout vehicles. MP3 has a DPI of 138%, while MP4 shows a DPI of 20%. Across the lower‑midmarket segment – MP5’s exclusive focus – MP3 and MP4 have delivered an average exit multiple of 4.1x across six exits since 2022, including one partial exit.
“With MP5, Mérieux Equity Partners reaffirms a positioning that has been at the heart of our identity since inception: investing exclusively in healthcare, with the ambition of contributing to better prevention, innovation, cure, and care,” said Christine Demode, president. “This first closing marks an important milestone, and we are grateful to our limited partners for the trust they place in our teams.”
Investors came from France and Western Europe. The fund’s Article 8 SFDR classification supported selection by some LPs.
“Healthcare is seen as a more resilient market than other sectors,” said Billet. “However, LPs are well aware that healthcare is a vast and heterogenous sector — some subsectors being highly attractive while others underperform. That is why they are looking for specialist GPs, able to deep dive and find attractive niches less exposed to geopolitical instability.”
Mérieux Equity Partners employs 28 professionals of nine nationalities, including 10 dedicated buyout investors.
