TPG collects $2.17bn so far for Rise Fund

TPG is nearing the target for its latest impact-investment fund, more than a year after fundraising was thrown into disarray by a top executive’s arrest in a college admissions cheating scandal.

The firm has gathered $2.17bn for its Rise Fund II and parallel vehicles, its environmental, social and governance investment pool, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

TPG cut the target for the fund to $2.5bn from $3bn after William McGlashan Jr, who founded the impact-investing unit in 2016, left the firm last year after he was charged in the Operation Varsity Blues college-admissions cheating scandal that snared dozens of parents. Federal prosecutors said he attempted to bribe officials at the University of Southern California, among other charges. McGlashan has denied the accusations.

TPG offered investors the opportunity to withdraw their commitments from the fund following McGlashan’s departure from the firm. His court case remains pending in Boston.

The Rise Funds are among the largest and most well-known private equity impact funds. Fundraising for such vehicles has been strong in recent years on the back of significant demand from limited partners.

The first Rise Fund closed with $2bn in 2017. Among the companies the TPG Rise platform has backed are Zipline, which offers a drone-based healthcare delivery service and Cellulant, an African digital-payments company.

Source: Private Equity News