GTCR Said Near $3.5B Hard Cap

GTCR Golder Rauner looks to be nearing a close for its tenth fund. The Chicago buyout shop is wrapping up marketing for GTCR Fund X LP with a $3.5 billion hard cap, a source confirmed to peHub, confirming an earlier report from LBO Wire.

peHub, a sister Web site to Buyouts, reported in August that GTCR was targeting $3 billion for the pool. “GTCR is one of a handful of GPs that form the private equity gold standard these days,” the person said. “The vast majority of GPs will not have nearly as easy a time fundraising.”

The pool has strong support from investors in the firm’s previous offerings, LBO Wire said.GTCR has also resisted adding a preferred return to the pool. A preferred return would require GTCR to hit a set return threshold before it could take its share of the profits, LBO Wire said.

GTCR’s prior fund raised $2.75 billion in 2006. That fund, GTCR Fund IX, has an IRR of -8.7 percent according to June 30 data from the Washington State Investment Board, an investor in the fund. GTCR’s Fund VII and VIII are better performers. Fund VIII has an IRR of 27.3 percent, while Fund VII has a 25.3 percent IRR, the Washington State Investment Board reported.

GTCR’s ninth fund broke even by the end of 2010 and has produced a positive net IRR, LBO Wire said, citing an unnamed source.

Officials for GTCR could not be reached for comment by deadline.

Luisa Beltran is a senior writer for peHub.