--- title: "European institutional fundraising: ERAFP, FRR and EIF routes | Altss Blog" description: "Compare ERAFP mandates, FRR underlying-fund limits and EIF senior-credit terms to choose the right European institutional fundraising route." canonical: "https://altss.com/blog/european-institutional-fundraising-erafp-frr-eif-product-routes" --- [Altss Research](https://www.linkedin.com/company/altss) 6 min read Updated Nov 13, 2026 Share # European institutional fundraising: ERAFP, FRR and EIF routes Compare ERAFP mandates, FRR underlying-fund limits and EIF senior-credit terms to choose the right European institutional fundraising route. [Back to blog](https://altss.com/blog) Share [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=) [X](https://x.com/intent/tweet?url=&text=European%20institutional%20fundraising%3A%20ERAFP%2C%20FRR%20and%20EIF%20routes) Copy link ERAFP’s August 2026 private-markets awards created five active management appointments and four standby roles across a programme targeting €1.6 billion over its life. For a fundraiser, the consequential detail is the product: the French public-sector pension institution selected managers to manage dedicated portfolios, including portfolios investing through other funds. That creates two different commercial positions—running the mandate and supplying an underlying fund. A third appears in the European Investment Fund’s senior private credit programme, where a manager can seek an investment in its vehicle. These routes require different proposals, even when the ultimate capital supports similar private-market assets. ## ERAFP selected managers for dedicated portfolios ERAFP’s [2025 competition notice](https://www.boamp.fr/pages/avis/?q=idweb:25-36425) specified a French-law vehicle with compartments dedicated to ERAFP. Its European private-equity lot would invest principally through funds in small and mid-market buyout, development and growth transactions, with a smaller role for mezzanine or unitranche financing. The initial mandate term was ten years, with two possible two-year renewals. A manager bidding for that contract had to offer a durable portfolio-management operation. The [published award criteria](https://www.boamp.fr/pages/avis/?q=idweb:26-81263) make the emphasis concrete: - Management expertise, process and team: 55%, comprising 45% for the investment process and 10% for the dedicated research and management teams. - Risk controls and legal and operational organisation: 20%, comprising 7% for risk management and 13% for the mandate’s legal and operational organisation. - Management costs: 25%. The legal and operational component alone carried more weight than the dedicated-team component. A proposal organised entirely around investment performance and biographies would leave a substantial part of the evaluation unanswered. The operating structure, controls and economics needed to work for a long-lived dedicated mandate. The selection also separated active appointments from standby capacity. ERAFP’s [13 August 2026 announcement](https://www.rafp.fr/actualites/lerafp-attribue-neuf-mandats-gestion-dactifs-non-cotes-capital-investissement-et) described four lots: - European private equity: indicative €700 million target; Access Capital Partners and Ardian active, Schroders standby. - North American private equity: indicative €300 million; Schroders active, Ardian standby. - OECD infrastructure: €400 million target; Amundi active, BlackRock standby. - Ecological-transition infrastructure: indicative €200 million; Access Capital Partners active, SWEN Capital Partners standby. These targets cover the life of the mandates. ERAFP may activate standby managers as its needs evolve; the announcement does not assign each standby appointment a funded portfolio. The participation-request deadline was 13 May 2025, so this is a completed procurement case, not an invitation to submit a new bid. For a buyout GP raising an underlying fund, investigate how the active portfolio managers select funds for the account. The relevant pitch concerns the fund’s strategy, company size, geography, vintage and concentration within the delegated portfolio. The awards identify managers; their current selection appetite still needs establishing. ## FRR puts a hard boundary around the underlying fund France’s Fonds de réserve pour les retraites provides a more explicit example of that second route. On [19 June 2026, FRR selected SWEN Capital Partners and Flexstone Partners](https://www.fondsdereserve.fr/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Fonds-de-fonds-PE.pdf) for €500 million of dedicated private-equity mandates investing through underlying funds. Its published constraints distinguish the dedicated portfolio from the products feeding it: - Each selected underlying fund must have no more than €300 million in total commitments. - At least 75% of the dedicated portfolio must be invested in primary buyout and development-capital funds. - The dedicated funds must invest indirectly at least 80% in businesses headquartered or principally active in France, with up to 20% in the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland. The €300 million limit applies to the underlying fund, not to the manager’s firm-wide assets or the €500 million mandate programme. A €400 million buyout fund exceeds the published cap, regardless of the manager’s track record. The announcement supplies no current application window for underlying GPs. ## EIF senior private credit starts with the vehicle and its deployment The EIF route involves a different proposition: an investment in a financial intermediary under InvestEU. Its [currently linked call](https://www.eif.org/files/calls/ieu-equity-call-expression-interest.pdf) accepts applications before 30 June 2027, subject to any earlier closure notified by EIF. The call’s cover records publication in April 2022 and an update in May 2024; this is an existing programme available for current planning. Applications are assessed continuously, on a first-come basis, through screening, due diligence, approval, legal negotiation and signature. Both policy fit and commercial assessment matter. The application therefore needs to explain the vehicle’s investment proposition and its contribution to the programme, rather than reproduce a dedicated-mandate tender response. The [Senior Private Credit term sheet](https://www.eif.org/files/calls/ieu-equity-annex-v-senior-private-credit-termsheet.pdf) contains several consequential design tests: - EIF’s investment generally represents at least 7.5% of commitments raised at the closing in which it participates, and no more than 25% of total fund commitments. Exceptions to the 25% limit are possible; the investment ceiling is €100 million. - The minimum eligible allocation is the higher of 50% of aggregate invested amounts and twice EIF’s drawdowns for investment, with that second amount capped at 80% of aggregate invested amounts. Only qualifying Primary Investments count. Illustratively, a portfolio with €100 million invested and €20 million drawn from EIF for investment would require at least €50 million of eligible allocation: the higher of €50 million and €40 million. This is one portfolio test; investor-base, borrower, geography, exclusion and other programme requirements also apply. Model the closing and deployment together: participating-close commitments, total fund commitments and invested capital are different denominators. The projected eligible portfolio must support the requested investment as capital is drawn. ## Decide what the manager can actually supply An [institutional-investor classification](https://altss.com/taxonomy/institutional-investors) helps organise coverage. These cases add the product decision that should precede a bid or fundraising campaign: - Manager of a dedicated portfolio: demonstrate how the proposed vehicle, investment process, controls, operating organisation and costs deliver the buyer’s specific portfolio. ERAFP’s scoring makes those trade-offs visible. - Underlying fund manager: establish fit within a delegated account’s fund-size, strategy and geographic constraints. FRR’s cap can rule out a product before relationship-building begins. - Programme-backed fund applicant: connect the fund’s commercial proposition, policy contribution, closing structure and deployment model. EIF’s terms make those relationships measurable. The next deliverable should follow that choice: a mandate operating proposal, a note explaining how the fund fits the account, or a closing-and-deployment model. Each gives the receiving investment team something it can evaluate against the decision it actually owns. Share this article Share ## Related articles [Image: Mukesh Ambani's Family Office: Scale and Strategy in India's New Capital Era (2026)](https://altss.com/blog/mukesh-ambani-s-family-office) LP Intelligence 10 min read ### [Mukesh Ambani's Family Office: Scale and Strategy in India's New Capital Era (2026)](https://altss.com/blog/mukesh-ambani-s-family-office) A comprehensive 2026 profile of Mukesh Ambani's family office — its structure, investment strategy, allocator behavior, and practical advice for fund manag [Altss Research](https://www.linkedin.com/company/altss) Sep 19, 2025 [Image: Endowments & Foundations as LPs: GP Guide 2026](https://altss.com/blog/endowments-foundations-as-lps-2026) LP Intelligence 18 min read ### [Endowments & Foundations as LPs: GP Guide 2026](https://altss.com/blog/endowments-foundations-as-lps-2026) How endowments and foundations allocate to alternatives, how the 2025 endowment tax reshapes GP fundraising, and how to navigate the 6–18 month decision. [Altss Research](https://www.linkedin.com/company/altss) Feb 8, 2026 [Image: Global Single-Family Office Migration and Regional LP Activity Trends (2026)](https://altss.com/blog/global-single-family-office-migration-and-regional-lp-activity-trends-2025) LP Intelligence 15 min read ### [Global Single-Family Office Migration and Regional LP Activity Trends (2026)](https://altss.com/blog/global-single-family-office-migration-and-regional-lp-activity-trends-2025) Data-driven analysis of family office migration across Florida, Singapore, Dubai, Italy, and Brazil. Includes LP activity trends, tax policy drivers, and a [Altss Research](https://www.linkedin.com/company/altss) Aug 20, 2025 ## Canonical URL https://altss.com/blog/european-institutional-fundraising-erafp-frr-eif-product-routes