Corsair Seeks $2B For Fourth Financial Services Fund

Corsair Capital has officially launched its fourth financial services investment fund and is looking to almost double the amount it raised for its prior vehicle.

The New York-based firm hopes to hold a first close this fall on north of $600 million to $700 million, eventually hitting a target for the fund of $2 billion.

“The PPMs have just gone out, the firm has done a bunch of meetings both with existing and new backers, and the fund is being very well received,” a source with knowledge of the situation told Buyouts. Potential supporters are expressing interest and discussing the timing of pledges, although no one has signed on yet to Corsair IV Financial Services Capital Partners LP, the source said.

New York-based Corsair Capital’s Corsair III Financial Services Capital Partners LP, closed in 2007 on $1.1 billion, which was used to invest a minimum of $50 million of equity in banks, insurance companies and advisory firms. Backers of Fund III included General Electric Co., NB Private Equity Partners Ltd. and Standard Chartered Bank.

J.P. Morgan & Co. formed Corsair Capital in 1993 to take advantage of opportunities created by the savings and loan crisis. The firm managed two third-party funds from within J.P Morgan and then spun out from the investment bank in 2005.

Atlantic-Pacific Capital, a Greenwich, Conn.-based placement agency, is helping to raise the new fund.