Leonard Green Raises Nearly $15 Billion for Private Equity Funds

The private equity firm announced a mega fundraise across two funds.

Yet another private equity firm has announced a fundraise in the tens of billions of dollars.

Leonard Green & Partners announced Monday that it had raised a total of $14.75 billion across two funds in seven months.

The Los Angeles-based private equity firm said it raised $12 billion for Green Equity Investors VIII, its eighth flagship private equity fund. The size of this fund eclipsed the firm’s prior flagship fund, which closed at $9.6 billion, per the announcement. The fund will target deals between $400 million and $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The remaining $2.75 billion was raised for Leonard Green’s first middle-market fund, Jade Equity Investors. Jade Equity will target investments between $50 million and $250 million, according to a source familiar with the matter. The firm began fundraising for both vehicles in May 2019, the source said.

The mega fundraise comes on the heels of five major private equity firms announcing last month that they had raised an aggregate of roughly $42.2 billion. These major fundraises have raised questions as to whether there are enough opportunities to deploy so much capital, but such concerns haven’t stopped investors from committing capital to large funds.

According to meeting minutes from October, the Ventura County Employees’ Retirement Association contributed a total of $15 million to Green Equity Investors VIII. A quarterly update published online on December 2 by Minnesota’s State Board of Investment shows that the board contributed $150 million to the flagship fund.

Other investors included public and corporate pensions, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, family offices, and financial institutions, according to Leonard Green’s announcement.

“Our investor base represents a diverse group of institutions and their constituents globally, with limited partners in GEI VIII and Jade spanning over 20 countries,” Erika Spitzer, a partner at the firm, said in a statement. Spitzer leads capital raising and investor relations efforts for Leonard Green & Partners.

Partners working at Leonard Green contributed a total of $750 million across the two funds, the firm said.

The firm invests in buyout deals, going-private transactions, recapitalizations, growth equity, and occasionally public debt and equities, according to the announcement. Its primary investment focus is service-related businesses like consumer, business, and healthcare companies.

Source: Institutional Investor

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