Littlejohn To Close Between Target And Cap

The Greenwich, Conn., turnaround shop has raised $1.27 billion for Littlejohn Fund IV LP, a tad more than its target of $1.25 billion, but not quite at its hard cap of $1.35 billion. Littlejohn & Co. collected $850 million in 2006 for its previous fund.

Backers of Fund IV include the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, Employees Retirement System of Texas, the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, the Virginia Retirement System and the Washington State Investment Board.

The firm invests in companies with revenues of $150 million to $800 million in sectors that include industrial equipment, packaging, chemicals, automotive, transportation parts and equipment, food and food processing, electronics and electrical products, health care, plastics, aerospace, defense, distribution, environmental and infrastructure services, and consumer products.

For control-stake transactions, Littlejohn & Co. invests $50 million to $100 million per deal, doing an average of three or four transactions yearly, mostly in the United States, although the firm also considers deals in Canada and Europe.

Portfolio companies include CTI Foods, a supplier of processed food; Latham International, a manufacturer of pool components; Synchronous Aerospace Group, a maker of aircraft parts; CoActive Technologies, which makes electromechanical switches; Van Houtte, a coffee roaster and distributor; Clean Earth, a processor of contaminated soil; and Penda Corp., which makes automotive exterior trim and accessories.

Chairman and CEO Angus Littlejohn Jr. founded the firm in 1996. Previously Littlejohn helped found Joseph, Littlejohn & Levy.