Global private equity firm Advent International has raised $13 billion for its latest buyout fund, according to a statement. It had previously raised $10.8 billion in 2012 for its last global investment vehicle, GPE VII.
The London-based group said it took just six months to secure the money for its eighth fund. The new fund received commitments from a diverse base of institutional investors across the globe.
The fund christened as GPE (Global Private Equity) VIII will pursue the same strategy as its predecessor funds, investing in buyouts, recapitalisations and growth equity transactions, primarily in Europe and North America and selectively in other regions such as Asia and Latin America.
“Approximately 90 per cent of the committed capital came from limited partners in Advent’s prior funds, with the remaining commitments provided by a select number of new investors,†said Johanna Barr, managing director and global co-head of Limited Partner Services at Advent International in London.
The fund will focus on five industry sectors—business and financial services; healthcare; industrial; retail, consumer and leisure; and technology, media and telecom.
GPE VIII will be invested by a team of more than 130 investment professionals across Europe, North America and Asia. These individuals can leverage the expertise and networks of additional professionals from Advent’s Latin American Private Equity Fund (LAPEF) programme, which focuses on investments throughout Latin America, the statement added.
“This platform allows us to generate a broad set of opportunities, invest selectively in the most compelling businesses and drive operational improvement and growth to create value," said Ralf Huep, a managing partner at Advent International in Frankfurt.
Advent has invested in 228 private equity transactions in 29 countries since 1990 and fully or substantially exited 190 of those investments.
Recent IPOs and sale of companies include Casa Reha, Douglas, Equiniti, GFKL Financial Services, Priory Group and Worldpay in Europe; Bojangles’, Party City and TransUnion in North America; and CARE Hospitals in India.
As on December 2015, Advent had $29 billion in assets, excluding the new fund. The firm has invested $30 billion in more than 300 private equity transactions in 40 countries.
It invests in India out of its global fund and has sealed two deals in the last one year. It committed to co-invest with Temasek to buy a significant stake in Crompton Greaves' consumer products business that is to be listed separately. Last month, it teamed up with Bain Capital and GIC to invest $350 million to pick a minority stake in global engineering solutions provider QuEST Global Services Pte from Warburg Pincus and other existing shareholders.
In January, it sealed a deal to sell its majority stake in Hyderabad-based multi-specialty hospital chain CARE Hospitals to Dubai-based private equity investor Abraaj Group, in the biggest deal in the healthcare delivery segment in India to date.
