Flexpoint targets $2.5bn for Fund V as market challenges continue to grow

Flexpoint was founded in 2005 by CEO Don Edwards, a former GTCR executive, who designed it to be a specialist investor in financial services and healthcare.

Flexpoint Ford, a veteran investor in financial services and healthcare, rolled out a fifth flagship buyout offering set to bring in $2.5 billion.

The target for Flexpoint Fund V was disclosed in Form D documents filed by the Chicago private equity firm. It is also seeking $500 million for an overage vehicle. Lazard is the placement agent.

Fund V comes three years after the close of its predecessor, which secured $1.5 billion. Another $500 million was raised for an overage vehicle intended to invest alongside Fund IV in larger deals.

Flexpoint declined to provide a comment on this story.

Challenges to fundraising have recently risen in tandem with uncertainty and volatility. Dynamics have also changed as GPs, who continue to bring new offerings to market at a fast pace and with bigger tickets, are encountering reduced supply due to overallocated LPs. This is expected to slow the pace of fundraising, in part by lengthening timelines.

Earlier this month, Preqin reported PE fundraising totaling $119 billion in the second quarter, down 50.5 percent from a year earlier.

Flexpoint was founded in 2005 by CEO Don Edwards. Edwards was formerly a principal at GTCR, where he led healthcare investing and participated in transaction processing and financial services deals, according to the firm’s website. Before joining GTCR in 1994, he was a Lazard investment banker.

Drawing on this experience, Edwards designed Flexpoint to be a specialist investor in financial services and healthcare, two of private equity’s largest and best-performing sectors.

The firm invests flexibly, tailoring solutions to mostly founder-led companies across an array of financial services and healthcare subsectors. Along with control acquisitions, it will acquire minority stakes and invest in pools of niche credit assets. Investments in buyout, growth equity, turnaround and other deals tend to run from $50 million to $500 million.

Flexpoint has invested in more than 40 businesses since inception, its website said. Last month, it announced an agreement to sell one of them: TigerRisk, a risk, capital and strategic adviser to the insurance and reinsurance industry backed in 2020. The buyer is Howden Group.

It also this year closed the acquisition of Clearstead, a financial advisory business with about $31 billion of managed assets. Investments in 2021’s record deal market included CHS, a medical device maker and distributor; Lereta, a property tax and flood data services provider; and Payfacto, a payment solutions and hospitality tech company.

Flexpoint’s senior team has undergone change of late. In January, the firm announced the promotion of managing director Chris Ackerman to managing partner. An ex-Morgan Stanley investment banker, Ackerman came onboard in 2005.

In addition, Flexpoint in May announced the hire of Michael Morris from Northleaf Capital Partners, bringing the number of managing directors to 10. It also hired Meredith Stein from Stone Point Capital-backed Cross Ocean Partners as head of investor relations.

Flexpoint last year collected $825 million for a second asset investment fund focused on opportunistic investing in financial services subsectors and assets.