What Afendis Capital Management does

Afendis Capital Management is a specialist private equity firm founded in 2018 and headquartered in London, with a secondary office in Istanbul. The firm invests in manufacturing businesses within the consumer and healthcare sectors across the EMEA region, reporting approximately €450 million in assets under management. Afendis specializes in complex investment situations including platform plays, operational turnarounds, corporate carve-outs, and growth equity investments, with a portfolio concentrated in food manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. The firm explicitly states it is "already engaged in adjacent sectors" beyond its core consumer and healthcare remit, leveraging operating expertise to enter new verticals.

The firm provides bespoke capital solutions through equity and debt-like instruments, combined with operational support and board-level strategic oversight to its portfolio companies. Its current portfolio comprises four companies: YSCO (leading European private label ice cream manufacturer, acquired January 2025 as a carve-out, ~200M liters annual capacity), Gelato d'Italia (Italian ice cream producer, acquired November 2022, combined with YSCO into the "Glacier" platform), Cerealto (third-party manufacturer of biscuits, cereals, snacking bars, and pasta in Europe, acquired June 2022, 10 manufacturing sites across four countries), and Sanovel (fourth largest generic drugs manufacturer in Turkey, acquired March 2020, EU GMP and US FDA approved facility). The firm deploys a hands-on operational model, with operating partners and senior advisors providing direct manufacturing, supply chain, R&D, and CEO-level expertise to portfolio companies rather than relying purely on financial engineering.

Afendis generates revenue through management fees and carried interest on its investment funds, with fee structures negotiated bespoke with institutional investors and not publicly disclosed. The firm is led by three co-founding partners—Mehmet Can Ilkin, Yesim Kanburoglu Ilbak, and Cem Karakas—who bring senior backgrounds spanning private equity, investment banking, and operational management at TPG, EBRD, Actera, Pladis, and Yildiz Group. Its go-to-market is direct and relationship-based, sourcing deals through professional networks, industry connections, and referrals rather than traditional marketing channels. There is no underlying technology platform; the firm's "product" is capital and operational expertise applied to mid-market manufacturing carve-outs and turnarounds.

Name

Afendis Capital Management

Legal name

Afendis

Website

https://afendis.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Afendis Capital Management is a London-based private equity firm founded in 2018 that specializes in complex investments in European manufacturing businesses in the consumer and healthcare sectors, managing approximately €450M in assets. The firm provides bespoke capital solutions, operational support, and board-level oversight to its portfolio of four companies across food manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Private Equity Investment Management

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), All Other Financial Investment Activities (52399)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Capital Markets Advisory (IPO Readiness, SPAC, ECM/DCM Advisory) (BPAHAOAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Corporate Finance & Capital Advisory (BPAHADAB), Corporate Strategy Advisory (BPAHADAA)

Keywords

• Private equity investing
• Special situations investing
• Manufacturing business investment
• Operational turnaround investing
• Growth equity capital

Headquarters

HQ city

City Of London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Fund Management: Generates revenue through management fees and carried interest from investments in portfolio companies. Operates as a specialist private equity investor providing bespoke capital solutions, operational support, and board-level strategic oversight.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Afendis Capital Management is a specialist private equity firm that invests in manufacturing businesses across the consumer and healthcare sectors in EMEA. It provides bespoke capital solutions through equity and debt-like instruments, combined with operational support and board-level strategic oversight. The firm focuses on complex investment situations including platform plays, operational turnarounds, corporate carve-outs, and growth equity investments.

Product overview

Afendis Capital Management is a specialist private equity and investment firm that offers bespoke capital solutions, operational support, and board-level strategic oversight to portfolio companies in the manufacturing, consumer, and healthcare sectors across EMEA. The firm focuses on special situations investing including platform plays, operational turnarounds, corporate carve-outs, and growth equity investments. Afendis does not offer a traditional product portfolio but manages a portfolio of investments in food manufacturing companies (YSCO, Gelato d'Italia, Cerealto) and pharmaceutical companies (Sanovel), providing hands-on governance and value creation services to these portfolio businesses.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Bespoke Capital Solutions Bespoke capital solutions structured through equity and debt-like instruments are provided to portfolio companies in the consumer and healthcare manufacturing sectors to support growth, turnarounds, and carve-outs.
• Platform Plays Investment Platform plays are investments used to build or acquire a foundational business in a sector, with subsequent add-on acquisitions to grow scale. Afendis executes this approach in the European food manufacturing sector, exemplified by Cerealto and its follow-on acquisitions.
• Operational Turnaround Investment Operational turnaround investments target manufacturing businesses that require restructuring, performance enhancement, and turnaround support to unlock value.
• Corporate Carve-out Investment Corporate carve-out investments involve acquiring a business unit or subsidiary being separated from a larger parent company, providing independent capital and operational support. YSCO was acquired as part of a complex carve-out from its parent company.
• Growth Equity Investment Growth equity investments provide capital to established manufacturing businesses to accelerate growth, expand capacity, and extend market reach, exemplified by Afendis's investment in Sanovel.
• Board-Level Strategic Oversight Board-level strategic oversight provided to portfolio companies, with Afendis partners and operating partners serving on boards to drive strategic direction and governance.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30+ years of combined experience
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• YSCOcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPortfolio company investment acquired January 2025. Leading private label ice cream manufacturer in Europe with two large manufacturing facilities in Belgium and France. Serves majority of retailers in Western European markets. Part of a complex carve-out from parent company.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• BC Partners: European mid-market private equity firm with a long-standing consumer and industrial focus. Comparable for its European mid-market deal origination and special situations capability, though at materially larger AUM than Afendis.
• TPG Capital: Global private equity firm with major EMEA consumer exposure. Comparable for its EMEA consumer/healthcare investing activity (Mehmet Can Ilkin previously led TPG Growth in Turkey), though operating at vastly larger scale and broader remit.
• PAI Partners: Major European private equity firm with a strong food and consumer goods franchise. Comparable as a Europe-based sponsor pursuing mid-to-large cap consumer/food carve-outs and platform builds, though at materially greater scale than Afendis.
• Cinven: Large European private equity firm with deep consumer and healthcare exposure. Comparable for its focus on European mid-to-large cap transactions in consumer and healthcare verticals, though it operates at significantly larger AUM and deal size than Afendis.

Direct peers

• Duke Street Capital: UK-focused mid-market private equity firm with consumer and industrial expertise. Comparable as a Europe-based mid-market sponsor executing buyouts and complex situations in similar company-size ranges to Afendis.
• Bridgepoint: European mid-market private equity investor with consumer and healthcare exposure. Comparable for its mid-market buyout focus across EMEA, including special situations, at a similar scale to Afendis.
• Investcorp: Alternative investment firm with European mid-market consumer and corporate investments. Comparable given its focus on mid-market European consumer/industrial buyouts, often in carve-out and special situations.
• Actera Group: Turkey-focused private equity firm investing across retail, manufacturing, and services. Directly comparable given Yesim Kanburoglu Ilbak's prior tenure as an investment professional at Actera and its overlapping consumer/manufacturing thesis in EMEA.
• Equistone Partners Europe: Pan-European mid-market private equity firm. Comparable for its mid-market deal sizing, European geography, and focus on consumer, industrial, and healthcare investments at the size range Afendis operates in.
• Mediterra Capital: Turkish private equity firm with a consumer/food manufacturing focus. Comparable as two of Afendis's investment team members (Naime Karakaya, Ayfer Elifnur Ozutku) previously worked at Mediterra, and it operates in the same EMEA mid-market segment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/afendis-capital-management

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles20 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Afendis Capital Management