Market At A Glance

Odyssey Investment Partners was the biggest fundraiser of the past fortnight. It closed its fourth fund at the hard cap of $1.5 billion, which is twice the size of the predecessor fund. Odyssey Investment Partners Fund IV LP had an initial $1 billion target.

The Carlyle Group was also busy. It completed its first Middle East and North Africa fund at the goal of $500 million. Carlyle Middle East North Africa will invest in energy, financial services and other sectors in the region. The firm also secured $553 million for Carlyle Mezzanine Partners II LP, which had a $600 million target.

In addition, cleantech-focused growth equity firm Element Partners wrapped up its second fund at $486 million. Element Partners II LP had an initial target of $400 million. These activities brought total fundraising commitments for buyout and mezzanine firms so far this year to about $16.2 billion.

There were 17 LBO transactions during the past two weeks, according to Buyouts’ publisher Thomson Reuters. The three with disclosed financial terms had a combined value of $32 million.

The deal with the largest disclosed value was Wicks Group of Cos.’ Wilks Broadcast Group LLC unit’s acquisition of three radio stations from CBS Corp. for $19.5 million. The second biggest deal involved an investor group’s purchase of warrants convertible into an 87.07 percent stake in Paradigm Holdings Inc. The group, which includes Hale Capital Partners LP, paid $12.1 million.

Year-to-date deal flow is now at 71 transactions. The value of those with reported financial terms increased slightly to $1.86 billion.