GI rakes in capital, reaching about $1.8bn for first close on flagship

Fresh off closing its debut data infrastructure fund, GI Partners recently held a first close on about $1.8 billion for its sixth flagship pool, a person with knowledge of the firm told Buyouts.

GI is targeting $3.25 billion for Fund VI. The firm doesn’t appear to be having problems attracting capital in the pandemic, at a time when limited partners are primarily committing to established managers.

A spokesperson for GI declined to comment. Park Hill Group is working as placement agent on the fundraising.

GI invests in sectors like data infrastructure, healthcare, software and services. It was formed in 2001 and is led by managing director and founder Rick Magnuson.

The firm launched Fund VI in the spring. It raised $2.7 billion for Fund V in 2017 and $2 billion for Fund IV in 2014. Fund V was generating a 14.46 percent net internal rate of return and a 1.2x multiple as of Dec. 31, 2019, according to performance data from Washington State Investment Board.

GI Partners earlier this month agreed to buy Sectigo, an automated digital identity management and web security services company. GI is buying the company from Francisco Partners, which acquired the company in 2017.

GI meanwhile finished fundraising its debut digital infrastructure fund, raising $1.8 billion for the strategy.

“This is one of the things that really hit home through the covid pandemic that we’ve all been dealing with, how absolutely essential it is and the differentiator in our lives between having real quality broadband access at your fingertips and not,” said Mark Prybutok, managing director and co-head of GI’s data infrastructure group.