Cuyahoga Capital Raises $76.2M For Secondaries

Cuyahoga Capital Partners LLC is more than 60 percent of the way to its $125 million goal on its first first fund after separating from KeyCorp at the beginning of 2011, according to a regulatory filing. The firm has been said also to be planning a fund-of-funds vehicle that would be focused on mid-market and lower mid-market funds.

The Cleveland shop, which was formerly known as KCC Management LLC, has closed on $76.2 million toward a planned $125 million target for the fund, Cuyahoga Capital Partners IV LP, its first fund under its new banner, the filing showed. The minimum investment is $250,000.

Fund IV is a secondary fund that will pick up funding commitments from other institutional investors, Bart Shirley, managing partner, told Buyouts. “There’s a significant need for it in our market, and a significant place for it.”

Cuyahoga Capital focuses on the lower end of the market. Shirley said that segment is less volatile than the market for bigger companies. He would not discuss fund performance or future fundraising, but he said existing investors had doubled their commitments from the firm’s previous offering, which closed at just under $60 million in 2008.

Shirley leads Cuyahoga Capital along with managing partner Chris Hanrahan; the firm has five investment professionals.

Cuyahoga Capital has a two-pronged investment strategy, according to its Web site: It acquires secondary interests in buyout, venture capital, mezzanine and funds of funds in smaller, generally negotiated transactions; and it commits to primary buyout funds focused on lower and mid-market companies in the United States.