Ex-Goldman Pro McGoldrick Raises $2.5B For Debut Fund

“Goldfinger” is back in the market and has a new focus — Asia.

Mount Kellett Capital Management, a New York-based firm run by former Goldman Sachs partner Mark McGoldrick, has completed raising about $2.5 billion for its debut buyout fund, which will place an emphasis on Asia, especially China, two people with knowledge of the details told Reuters.

McGoldrick earned his nickname while at Goldman Sachs where, as co-head of its lucrative global special situations group, media reported he was paid between $40 million and $70 million in 2006.

The firm, which McGoldrick and former Goldman Sachs colleagues launched early last year, initially set a target of about $5 billion for Mount Kellett Capital Management Fund, but pared this goal back as markets fell sharply late last year, said the sources, who declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

“In fact, it’s not that bad at all. $2.5 billion is a very impressive number in such a tough market environment,” said one of the sources.

Along with scaling back its original target, Mount Kellett has also shifted its global investment scale to focus on Asia, said the sources.

The firm wasn’t available for comment. Named after a mountain in Hong Kong, Mount Kellet has an office in the former British colony with about 10 investment professionals seeking deals across Asia, especially in China and India, said one person familiar with operations.

Even before the firm raised the fund, firm executives had begun talks with several Chinese firms for potential investments, the person said.

“It’s a new firm, but it has a big appetite from the start,” said the source, who is bidding against Mount Kellett for one China deal.

“People are talking about Mount Kellett and you can actually see these guys on many big deals these days. They are apparently an aggressive investor,” he said, declining to elaborate. The ideal deal size for Mount Kellett would be about $100 million, the source said.