FrenchFood Capital, an investment firm set up to back SMEs in the country’s food sector, has completed raising capital for its first fund.

The investor said it had EUR132m (US$148.2m) under management, a pot that would see it invest between EUR5m and EUR15m in growing French food companies of “added value” in order to support them domestically and in international markets. 

FrenchFood Capital said it was targeting companies with “a value of between EUR20m and EUR150m”.

Last year, as the investment firm started to bring in capital, it made five investments, including in Italian fast-casual restaurant operator La Piadineria, French tea supplier Les 2 Marmottes and K-Santé, which offers weight-management services.

Paul Moutinho, the former Naxicap Partners executive who is one of the founding partners of FrenchFood Capital, said: “The investment fund must be a development accelerator, a sparring partner for a company’s leader, accompanying him in places where he sometimes feels too lonely.”

Moutinho set up FrenchFood Capital alongside former Kraft Foods executive Perrine Bismuth and Laurent Plantier, the co-founder of Alain Ducasse Entreprise, the business holding of the French chef of the same name.

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In July 2017, Denis Hennequin, the former CEO of McDonald’s business in Europe, joined as an investor.

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