Firms & Funds

Grain targets $750 mln for next telecom fund

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David Grain, Grain Management, telecommunications
David Grain, CEO and Managing Director, Grain Management. Photo sourced from Grain's website.
  • Fund capped at $850 mln
  • Launched earlier this year
  • Targets communications sector

Grain Management, a shop formed in 2007 to pursue investments in communications, is in the market with its fourth investment pool targeting $750 million, three people with knowledge of the firm told Buyouts.

Grain Communication Opportunities Fund II launched earlier this year. A Form D was filed in May that did not include a target for the fund.

Fund II, which is actually Grain’s fourth investment pool, is capped at $850 million, two of the people said. The fund is charging a 20 percent carried interest rate and a 2 percent management fee, they said.

Washington, DC..-based Grain also charges LPs who commit after the first closing a make-up management fee equal to the amount they would have paid if they had invested in the first close, plus 8 percent interest, the Form ADV said.

Fund II has a four-year investment period and an eight-year term — a slightly shorter fund life than other private equity funds.

It’s not clear how much Fund II has raised at this point. A spokesperson for Grain declined to comment on fund terms. 

David Grain formed Grain Communications Group in 2007. He who previously served as president of  as Global Signal Inc and as senior vice president at AT&T Broadband’s New England region, according to Grain’s website. Grain Communications was renamed Grain Management in 2010, according to the firm’s Form ADV. It invests in cell towers, fiber and spectrum.

The firm raised at least $108 million for Grain Infrastructure Fund I on a $135 million target, and $262.6 million for Grain Infrastructure Fund II on a $263 million target, according to Form D filings.

Fund III, Grain’s first pool called Grain Communications Opportunities Fund, targeted $500 million in 2016, a Form D said.

In October, the firm closed its acquisition of Nebraska telecommunications provider Great Plains Communications.

In addition to Mr. Grain, the firm is led by Managing Directors Chad Crank, Paul Licursi (also CFO) and Michael McKenzie. It managed about $207.8 million as of Aug. 17, 2018, according to Grain’s Form ADV.

Action Item: See Grain’s Form ADV here: https://bit.ly/2QiZtfy