Fund of Funds Closes Above Target

Solamere Capital, co-founded by Tagg Romney, son of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has closed its debut fund of funds March 31 at $255 million, well above its $200 million target.

“It was a difficult time to be raising a fund, the market timing was not ideal, but the product we offered was unique and most of our investors did not have access to private equity,” Tagg Romney said in an interview with Buyouts.

Solamere Capital plans to commit two-thirds of the fund to new private-equity funds managed by professionals with long track records across a variety of strategies, including buyouts, turnarounds, growth equity and venture capital. The balance the firm plans to devote to co-investments. The firm has so far committed to 14 funds and made three co-investments. Solamere Capital typically makes commitments to $5 million to $20 million, and makes co-investments in the same size range.

Most of the Lexington, Mass.-based firm’s limited partners are high-net worth individuals and families, Romney said.

Romney, the former chief operating officer for the Los Angeles Dodgers and director of strategic planning at Elan Pharmaceuticals, founded the firm alongside Eric Scheuermann, formerly a partner at Jupiter Partners, a New York-based firm that makes growth investments as well as buyouts; and Spencer Zwick the former national finance director for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, for which he assembled a team of 100 senior executives and 75 staff members. Zwick previously had been deputy chief of staff and COO for Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts. In all, the firm has six investment professionals.