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Large and mega-sized funds dating back to right before the Great Recession led the way in year-over-year distribution for the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho during a recent one-year period. Overall the pension enjoyed over $261 million in distributions from its private equity portfolio in the year ending September 2014, with the top five funds responsible for about $76 million of that. 

The number of private equity-backed companies listed in Standard & Poor’s “weakest links” report published in the beginning of April dropped to 19 from 35 when the list was last reviewed by Buyouts about three months ago. The year’s first quarter saw one portfolio company receive a default rating and another file for bankruptcy. 

Distressed debt specialist Ares Management has hit the hard cap for its fourth special situations fund, raising $1.5 billion from 68 investors, according to a Form D filing.

KSL Capital Partners, a Denver-based private equity firm that backs high-end resorts, has raised more than three-quarters of the $2.25 billion target for its fourth fund, according to a Form D filing.

U.S.-based buyout and mezzanine fundraising remained strong over the past two weeks, jumping by nearly $5 billion to stay $6.6 billion ahead of the total at this time last year.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is widely regarded as one of the largest and most successful pension funds in the United States. However, for all its hits, there are some misses mixed in there as well. The accompanying table shows the worst funds by IRR, excluding vintage 2010 funds and younger.

Download the year-to-date league tables for financial and legal advisers.

For the past four years the Q1 fundraising totals average 16.9 percent of what turned out to be the the yearly tallies. Using that same formula the year-end fundraising total for U.S. sponsors of buyout and mezzanine funds is projected to burst through the $300 billion threshold and set a new record this year. The surge in fundraising stems from a combination of high demand from institutional investors recycling record levels of distributions along with a healthy supply of mid-market and mega-funds raising capital.

Investors can’t seem to get enough of their favorite buyout and mezzanine funds sponsored by U.S. firms. Of the funds that have closed this year, nearly three-fourths finished above their targets. The accompanying table shows the top ten funds closed in 2015 by the amount of capital they were oversubscribed by. 

U.S.-based buyout and mezzanine fundraising has gotten off to a rapid start in 2015 thanks in part to a number of firms opening up new funds. This year’s tally remains more than $14 billion ahead of last year’s total at this time.