ABRY Partners secures up to $200 mln from LA County, San Francisco

Los Angeles County Employees committed up to $150 million to ABRY Partners VIII LP at its July 9 board of investments meeting, Principal Investment Officer for Private Equity Christopher Wagner told Buyouts. San Francisco Employees’ committed up to $50 million to the vehicle at its July 9 meeting, Commission Secretary Norm Nickens confirmed.

The firm has been marketing Fund VIII since the spring, a limited partner told sister publication peHUB last week. ABRY Partners has set a $1.9 billion target for the fund, which also received a $35 million commitment from the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund in June.

The firm closed its previous ABRY Partners fund on $1.6 billion in 2011. Fund VII had generated a 1.17x multiple and a 12.08 percent internal rate of return as of year-end, according to Indiana Public Retirement System performance data. Fund VI, a $1.35 billion 2008 vintage, had netted a 17.7 percent IRR and 1.7x multiple as of December 31, according to The California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

Los Angeles County Employees and San Francisco Employees’ are also LPs in ABRY Partners’s latest senior debt fund, which was expected to hold a final close on $1.5 billion earlier this year. The firm had not responded to a request for comment at press time.

ABRY Partners was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Boston. The firm manages $3.5 billion in capital through its active funds.