Roark Capital is raising $5B for new fund

Roark Capital, an Atlanta-based private equity firm focused on investing in franchised businesses, has raised $5 Bn for new fund. This will be the firm’s sixth flagship fund and follows a $1.4 billion raise in April 2020.

Midmarket private-equity firm Roark Capital set a fundraising target of $5 billion for the new fund. That would make the fund the same size as its predecessor, Roark Capital Partners V LP, which closed on its upper limit of $5 billion in 2018. At that time the firm also raised a separate $1.5 billion fund to invest alongside its fifth flagship fund.

Its equity investments typically range from $50 million to $1 billion or more in companies with revenue of between $20 million and $5 billion and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of between $10 million and $500 million, according to the firm’s website.

Recently the Roark Capital-owned company Driven Brands Holdings Inc, one of the largest U.S. auto services franchisers, has been looking to raise as much as $760 million through an initial public offering, which would value the at about $3.4 billion.

Roark focuses on multi-location business models in the retail, restaurant, consumer and business services sectors. Since inception, affiliates of Roark have invested in 88 franchise/multi-location brands, which generate approximately $43 billion in annual system revenues from approximately 42,000 locations in 50 states and 85 countries.

Source: Newsbreak