HealthCor Partners Seeks To Raise $300M Fund

HealthCor Partners Management, an investor in growing health care and life sciences companies, is out seeking $300 million—a tally that would double the firm’s assets under management if achieved.

The New York-based firm is part of the HealthCor Group, a hedge-fund manager and private equity shop with more than $3 billion under management. According to its Web site, HealthCor Partners has three senior managing directors. They are Jeffrey C. Lightcap, a senior managing director at mid-market buyout shop JLL Partners from 1997 to mid-2006; Arthur B. Cohen, who served as portfolio manager at hedge fund manager SAC Capital Advisors from 2000 until March 2005 before co-founding HealthCor Group two months later; and Joseph P. Healey, who like Cohen was a portfolio manager at SAC Capital Advisors from 2000 until March 2005 before co-founding HealthCor Group.

The HealthCor Partners Web site lists eight professionals altogether, and altogether HealthCor Group has more than 25 investment professionals. We were unable to reach any for comment for this article.

HealthCor Partners is believed to have set out this fall to raise HealthCor Partners Fund II LP with the help of Mercury Capital Advisors, the placement agent that spun out of Merrill Lynch in late 2009 following its acquisition by Bank of America. The HealthCor Partners Web site says the firm already has $300 million in assets under management, although we were unable to determine where the money comes from, or how it’s organized.

The firm makes investments of $5 million to $25 million as part of growth financings, leveraged buyouts and special situations, including restructurings. The principals take a hands-on approach to their portfolio companies, providing help with sales, marketing, regulatory compliance, add-on acquisitions, among other functions.

The firm’s Web site lists eight “select portfolio companies.” Among them are Practice Partners in Healthcare, a Birmingham, Ala.-based firm that develops and manages ambulatory surgery centers; Paradigm Spine, a New York-based company that supplies spinal implants used by orthopedic surgeons; and Velcera, a Yardley, Penn.-based company that makes medications to treat pets.