Amid Crowded Field, Cerberus Raises $1.65B So Far For Fund V

The New York-based shop has raised $1.65 billion so far for the fund, Cerberus Institutional Partners Series V LP. The firm is seeking to raise a total of $3.75 billion.

Monument Group, a placement agency based in Boston and London, is helping the firm raise the fund.

The fund targets control-stake turnarounds as well as distressed corporate debt, distressed European loans and distressed mortgage investments.

Investors so far include the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which committed $400 million, and the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System, which committed $200 million.  

Cerberus’s previous Institutional Partners fund, a 2006 vintage fund that raised $7.5 billion in commitments, had generated an investment multiple of 1.25 and an internal rate of return of 6.4 percent as of Sept. 30, 2011, for the University of California, which had committed $40 million.

Cerberus Capital’s effort comes amid a busy year in private equity fundraising, both in general and for distress investing in particular. As of Sept. 21, U.S.-based buyout and mezzanine firms had raised $130 billion in 2012, a substantial increase over the $62 billion raised for the comparable period in 2011, a recent Buyouts analysis of Thomson Reuters data showed.

Distressed debt and credit funds were among the most popular strategies, according to the analysis, published in the Oct. 1 issue. Other firms raising such funds include Oaktree Capital Management LP, which is likely to close its Oaktree Opportunities Fund IX LP with more than $4 billion in commitments; Sankaty Advisors, an affiliate of Bain Capital LLC seeking $3.5 billion for its Sankaty Credit Opportunities Fund V LP fund, and TPG Capital, which is seeking $2 billion for its TPG Opportunities Partners II LP fund.