Byron Trott’s BDT Capital lifts Fund II target by 2.5x to $5 billion

The Chicago-based private equity firm and merchant bank is upping its new fund’s target size by 2.5x to $5 billion in a sign of strong interest from LPs. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc has been a backer of the firm in the past. Buffett has heaped praised on BDT Capital founder Byron Trott.

BDT Capital disclosed a first sale date of June 20 for Fund II, with $3.46 billion in commitments from 123 investors. The firm listed the total offering amount of $5.2 billion, with no placement agent named. Trott, the ex-Goldman Sachs banker who launched the firm in 2009, is listed as a related person for the fund, along with William Bush, Sam Orr and Robert Verigan.

Its current holdings include a stake in Tory Burch, the high-profile fashion house headed by CEO Tory Burch, who is currently ranked No. 474 on the Forbes list of the U.S.’s wealthiest people with an estimated net worth of $949 million.

BDT Capital owned a minority stake in Peet’s Coffee & Tea when the firm was taken private for $1 billion by German conglomerate Joh. A. Benckiser in 2012. Benckiser’s price of $73.50 per share amounted to a 29 percent premium over Peet’s closing price on July 20, 2012, the day before the deal was announced. BDT Capital also served as a minority investor in Joh. A. Benckiser’s $340 million take-private deal for Caribou Coffee Co Inc in 2012.

On the real estate front, BDT Capital led a consortium along with Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell to buy the Wrigley Building in Chicago in 2011 for a reported $33 million. The Chicago City Council has since granted the building official landmark status.

Outside of its private equity arm, BDT’s Trott has been an adviser on major deals, including Coty Inc’s $10.7 billion bid to buy Avon Products in 2012. Trott also advised on the $4.5 billion sale of the Pritzker family’s stake in Marmon Holdings Inc to Berkshire Hathaway, among other deals.

In his 2003 annual letter to shareholders, Buffett said that Trott had already helped Berkshire Hathaway with three acquisitions.

”He understands Berkshire far better than any investment banker with whom we have talked and—it hurts me to say this—earns his fee,” Buffett said in the letter.

BDT Capital seems to be faring well on the fundraising trail despite the departure of Gerry Cardinale, the ex-Goldman Sachs banker who left the firm last year to launch RedBird Capital Partners. BDT Capital agreed to seed Cardinale’s fund at the time, according to a report by Fortune. RedBird Capital closed on $102.7 million for RedBird Capital Partners Fund I LP, according to a Form D filing in June. Cardinale is listed as a related person on the fund.