{"id":652047,"date":"2013-04-12T06:59:31","date_gmt":"2013-04-12T10:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pehub.com\/?p=195920"},"modified":"2013-04-12T06:59:31","modified_gmt":"2013-04-12T10:59:31","slug":"reuters-ridgemont-equity-raises-735m-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/652047","title":{"rendered":"Reuters \u2013 Ridgemont Equity Raises $735M Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

A private equity firm spun off from Bank of America Corp<\/strong> in 2010 has raised its first fund, allowing it to continue making investments in mid-sized companies as the No. 2 U.S. bank pulls back from the business, Reuters<\/em> reported. Ridgemont Equity Partners<\/strong> executives told Reuters<\/em> that the firm received total commitments of $735 million from institutional investors in the United States, Europe and Asia. They include AlpInvest Partners Inc<\/strong> and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board<\/strong>, but not Bank of America. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Ridgemont raised the capital at a time when dollars are scarce for first-time funds.<\/p>\n

(Reuters<\/em>) – A private equity firm spun off from Bank of America Corp in 2010 has raised its first fund, allowing it to continue making investments in mid-sized companies as the No. 2 U.S. bank pulls back from the business.<\/p>\n

Ridgemont Equity Partners executives told Reuters that the firm received total commitments of $735 million from institutional investors in the United States, Europe and Asia. They include AlpInvest Partners Inc and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, but not Bank of America.<\/p>\n

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Ridgemont raised the capital at a time when dollars are scarce for first-time funds. Only 28 reached a final close in the first quarter, the lowest number in any quarter from 2008 to 2013, according to Preqin, which tracks private equity investments.<\/p>\n

The new funds accounted for just 6 percent of the $67 billion raised by all funds during the period, compared with 20 percent at the peak.<\/p>\n

“It’s almost always challenging for first-time funds, and then you add in a tough fund-raising market in general,” said Travis Hain, who is on Ridgemont’s executive committee with Walker Poole and Trey Sheridan. “But if you have the right story, you’ll find support.”<\/p>\n

Ridgemont is an unusual case because the firm’s principals have been making investments together since 1993, injecting more than $3 billion into 115 companies. Before the spinoff, the firm was known as Banc of America Capital Investors and received its seed money from the bank.<\/p>\n

Bank of America has been winding down its private equity business as Chief Executive Brian Moynihan looks to streamline the company and follow new rules. The U.S. Dodd-Frank financial reform law limits much capital banks can invest in private equity funds.<\/p>\n

Bank of America sold a $1.9 billion portfolio to insurer AXA SA’s private equity arm in 2010. The bank had $1 billion in private equity investments at the end of the fourth quarter, down from $5.7 billion at the beginning of 2010.<\/p>\n

Bank of America’s goal is to sell its investments over time as the company focuses on its core businesses, spokesman Jerry Dubrowski said.<\/p>\n

Ridgemont still manages undisclosed private equity investments for the bank, but they are in “run-off” mode, Hain said.<\/p>\n

Being independent has advantages for Ridgemont, Hain said. The firm is not part of a larger bureaucracy and does not face the same regulatory restrictions as a bank. It also has a more focused investment strategy, sticking to mid-sized companies in four sectors ranging from energy to telecommunications, he said.<\/p>\n

So far, the firm, which has 27 employees, has committed about half of its new fund to investments in nine companies. This month, the bank closed an investment in a software and marketing company called Simpleview Inc. Ridgemont’s investments typically range from $25 million to $75 million.<\/p>\n

AlpInvest partner Chris Perriello said the investor started building a relationship with the Ridgemont executives before they left the bank and as they were taking steps to become independent. “We felt they had a high-quality team, a strong record,” he said.<\/p>\n

Officials at the Wisconsin investment board were not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n

Not every bank is backing away from private equity investments. Wells Fargo & Co has said it can still make investments through two funds that are subsidiaries . Goldman Sachs Group Inc, meanwhile, is trying to do private equity deals alongside investors that keep their funds in separately managed accounts.<\/p>\n

The post Reuters – Ridgemont Equity Raises $735M Fund<\/a> appeared first on peHUB<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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A private equity firm spun off from Bank of America Corp in 2010 has raised its first fund, allowing it to continue making investments in mid-sized companies as the No. 2 U.S. bank pulls back from the business, Reuters reported. Ridgemont Equity Partners executives told Reuters that the firm received total commitments of $735 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7428,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-652047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7428"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652047\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}