Bessemer Trust Raises $161 Mln For Fund Of Funds

The new fund would be a successor to Old Westbury Private Equity Fund XI, which had a target of $200 million. That fund had drawn commitments of $154 million as of June, 2012, according to the latest regulatory filing available. Old Westbury Private Equity Fund XI’s first Form D was filed on Sept. 23, 2010.

Bessemer Trust has been launching Old Westbury funds-of-funds for several years, and over the years has made commitments to the $21.7 billion Blackstone Capital Partners V fund, the $5.3 billion Bain Capital Fund VIII and the $10 billion Apollo Investment Fund VI, among other buyout funds, according to the Dow Jones Directory of Alternative Investment Programs.

Old Westbury Private Equity Fund XII’s May 28 Form D filing lists the fund’s first sale date as April 15, 2013, the firm says it does not intend the offering to last more than a year. The minimum investment accepted from any outside investor is $250,000.

Gregory Lester, Daniel Rice, Daphne Richards, Marc de Saint Phalle and Philip Benyola are listed as officers of Old Westbury Private Equity Fund XII. Everett Goings and Mark Hansen are also included as officers of the fund and members of the issuer’s board of managers, but their names did not appear in an earlier Form D filing for Fund XII on April 23.

Both the May 28 and April 23 Form D filings listed $161 million raised thus far for Old Westbury Private Equity Fund XII, just a few months after a Dec. 4, 2012 filing that disclosed zero money raised for the fund.

A spokesperson from New York-based Bessemer Trust Co. declined to comment.

Privately-owned Bessemer Trust’s web site lists $88.2 billion under supervision.  Founded in 1907, the firm now counts more than 2,100 clients and 700 employees under CEO Marc Stern, President George Wilcox and CIO Rebecca Patterson.

The firm has a fund-of-funds investment program focused on “attractive long-term capital appreciation” through venture capital and later-stage private equity funds throughout the world, according to its web site. Its objective is to “deliver a return pattern not highly correlated with public markets.”