Steve Gelsi
Blackstone Group senior executives Stephen Schwarzman and Tony James said the firm’s year-old Blackstone Tactical Opportunities effort is tipping the scales with more than $5 billion in commitments and an internal rate of return north of 20 percent thus far, in an upbeat assessment of one of the megafirm’s newest lines of business.
Harren Investors II LP, the vintage 2008 buyout fund, logged an IRR of about 19 percent for LP California Emerging Ventures I, II, III & IV, a fund for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System managed by Grove Street Advisors. The performance matches the top-quartile threshold and outpaced the 10.6 percent median performance for funds of that vintage year, according to pension data compiled by Buyouts. The firm closed Harren Investors III last July with $275 million in commitments after less than five months on the fundraising trail.
Lone Star Funds Ltd, the Dallas-based specialist in distressed investments with $45 billion in capital commitments, has revealed plans to up the size of its next flagship fund by $2 billion, less than a year after closing Lone Star Fund VIII with $5.1 billion in pledges.
Austin Ventures is talking to investors about a new $400 million to $650 million fund after raking in more than $80 million in stock sale proceeds from its investment in RetailMeNot and adding a new executive focused on the software sector.
HGGC Chief Executive and Managing Partner Rich Lawson is expecting MyWebGrocer Inc to expand globally as more consumers use their mobile phones to order and buy groceries to pick up at their favorite market.
Apollo Fund VIII‘s final fundraising tally has tipped the scale at $18.4 billion, making it the largest buyout fund since the financial crisis and the heftiest in the New York firm’s history, including an $880 million pledge from insiders.
The New Jersey State Investment Council OK’d a $300 million commitment to TPG Opportunities Partners III LP and related separate accounts, while moving to pare back its target allocations to buyout and venture capital funds.
Capstone Partners is planning to open a New York office with new hire Michael Keaveney lined up to lead the firm’s expansion in the Big Apple, according to an executive at the placement specialist.
Rubicon Technology Partners, a young firm led by Blackstone Group veteran John Hodge and an alumnus of Court Square Capital, has enlisted placement agent Capstone Partners to get it to the $250 million finish line for its first buyout fund, sources familiar with the firm said.
In a sign of LP interest in energy investing, Houston-based Post Oak Energy Capital has wrapped up Post Oak Energy Partners II in a single closing at its hard cap of $500 million, plus an additional $100 million to co-invest alongside the new fund.