Centerview Closes Debut Fund Halfway To Target

Centerview Partners has essentially wrapped fundraising for its debut fund at slightly more than half its original target. The New York-based shop, which also provides investment banking advisory services, held what will serve as a final close with $485 million in February. While the pool is not technically finished, firm executives are not actively seeking more funds, a source familiar with the effort told Buyouts.

When Centerview originally hit the fundraising market in the fall of 2007, its executives pegged the fund’s target at $850 million. That became unrealistic amid the worsening credit crisis that led into the full-on financial meltdown of September 2008, our source said. Firm executives are happy they raised as much as they did, all things considered, according to our source.

UBS Securities helped Centerview secure commitments from institutional investors such as General Electric Co.’s pension fund and Centinela Capital Partners LLC, a New York-based fund-of-funds shop.

Executives managing the fund, Centerview Capital LP, will invest solely in buyouts of North American-based companies in the consumer sector. Typical equity checks will range from $50 million to $100 million. The firm has made one investment from the pool so far: in December 2007, it paid an undisclosed amount for a minority stake in The Nielsen Co., the company that provides market data to the consumer and media industries.

Executives at the fund declined to comment.