Hastings Equity nearly triples fund size to $172 million

Hastings Equity Fund III investors included one of the largest foundations in the U.S., a university endowment, a fund of funds, and several family offices, the firm said without disclosing specific LP names.

Bruce MacRae, managing director, said the fund generated more than enough interest to hit its target of $200 million, but the firm opted to close the fundraise on the request of some LPs that were already seeing gains. “We drew a line in the sand to get things done,” he told Buyouts.

Several new blue chip institutional investors made up about nearly half of the new fund, according to a prepared statement. The firm raised $60 million for Hastings Equity Fund II LP in 2008. The firm hired some junior members since the last fund but the leadership team remains intact with MacRae and Ted Patton, managing director.

Hastings Equity Partners plans to continue its strategy of working closely with business owners, who have retained an average of 33 percent of the equity in seven deals that the firm has either completed or inked in the last 12 months.

The firm said it is taking aim at a growing universe of oilfield services companies looking for help in managing and financing their growth as North America continues to scale up its domestic oil and gas production.

Active on the deal front, Hastings Equity Partners said it has completed five investments from Fund III since its initial closing in November, including Extreme Plastics Plus, a provider of fluid and waste containment, and an add-on for that company, Three Amigos, an installer of water containment systems; also WadeCo Specialties, an oilfield production chemical company. In its most recent deal, it announced an investment in Southern Petroleum Laboratories Inc, a hydrocarbon flow measurement company, in August.

Hastings Equity hunts for platform companies with trailing EBITDA of $4 million to $15 million, or add-ons with greater than $1 million in trailing EBITDA, with three to five years of profitable operations, according to its website. The firm aims to provide $5 million to $20 million in equity, with an investment horizon of five years.