Lovell Minnick seeks $550 mln for Fund IV

The PE firm is seeking $550 million for Fund IV, although the pool does not have a hard cap and Lovell Minnick is not using a placement agent, the sources said.

The firm is seeking a first close by the end of March and hopes to wrap up fundraising by the summer.

With offices in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, Lovell Minnick focuses on the financial services industry. The firm typically invests between $20 million to $80 million of equity per deal, according to its website.

Fund IV is aiming to raise more than Lovell Minnick’s third fund, which closed at $450 million in 2010.

That fund was hurt by the financial crisis of 2009, according to one LP. 

“There was not a lot getting done from 2008 to 2009,” the source said. “It was a difficult time to make investments. They were very cautious and it paid off.”

Lovell Minnick scored some notable realizations in 2013.

In June, it sold First Allied to RCAP Holdings for an undisclosed sum. In May, it took TriState Capital Bank public in an initial public offering that raised $66 million. (Lovell Minnick, which owned nearly 22 percent before the IPO, did not sell shares in the TriState offering, according to SEC filings. It’s not clear how much of TriState it still owns.)

Fund III is generating a net IRR of 12 percent as of Dec. 31, the sources said.

Lovell Minnick’s second fund, a 2005 vintage, collected $224 million, and has also generated some exits.

Last year, the firm completed the sale of financial advisory and investment banking firm Duff & Phelps to a consortium led by The Carlyle Group for about $665.5 million. In February, it exited PlanMember Financial, a provider of retirement planning services.

And, in 2012, Lovell Minnick sold its 45 percent holding in ClariVest Asset Management to Eagle Asset Management.

Fund II is producing a net IRR of 13.5 percent, the sources said.

Lovell Minnick declined comment.

Luisa Beltran is a senior reporter for peHUB