Alpine Investors Nears Revised Target

Alpine Investors LP has held a third close on its fourth fund, putting the San Francisco shop more than 85 percent of the way toward hitting its downwardly-revised target of $100 million, sources told Buyouts.

The new fund, Alpine Investors IV, has closed on $85.7 million in limited partner commitments as of Nov. 30, our sources said.

When fundraising for the new vehicle got under way in September 2008, Fund IV sported a target of $175 million and a hard cap of $205 million. Those figures have since been scaled back to $100 million and $125 million, respectively. Alpine Investors did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Even if Fund IV closes at its new hard cap, it would be the first Alpine Investors vehicle that is not bigger than its predecessor. The firm’s third fund closed in 2006 with $125 million. Fund II, a vintage-2003 pool, closed with $69 million in commitments, while the firm’s inaugural fund closed in 2001 with a total of $53 million.

Alpine Investors, which has $247 million under management, typically invests in companies generating cash flow between $2 million and $20 million. The firm employs a generalist approach, investing in anything from retailers to insurance brokers and underwriters. Its most recent deal, according to the firm’s Web site, was the September 2008 investment in YLighting LLC, a retailer of lighting and other home décor products. Equity for that deal came from Fund III.

Other portfolio companies include Furniture Factory Outlet, a 27-store furniture retailer headquartered in Muldrow, Okla.; Multivend LLC, a Deer Park, N.Y. maker and distributer of candy vending machines; and NAC Marketing, a marketer and distributer of vitamins and nutritional supplements based in Farmingdale, N.Y.

Alpine Investors was formed in 2001 by Graham Weaver, a former vice president of Oak Hill Capital, the private equity investment arm of Robert M. Bass.