U.S. buyout and mezzanine firms collected roughly $64.8 billion in commitments through Dec. 16, 2010, down from the $65.8 billion secured during all of 2009. Despite the decrease, mezzanine fundraising more than doubled to $7.4 billion from $3.4 billion.
One of the vehicles frequently in the news in 2010 was Blackstone Group LP’s Fund VI. The New York-based firm said in July that the fund closed at $13.5 billion. However, Chief Operating Officer Tony James, speaking at a conference in New York in mid-November, said the fund would close at $15 billion. A slide accompanying his presentation was available at the firm’s Web site, and it indicated the fund had more than $14 billion in commitments.
Deal flow improved throughout the year. Buyouts publisher Thomson Reuters tracked 745 LBO deals in 2010 through Dec. 15. Those with reported financial terms combined for $68.3 billion. A year earlier, the magazine identified 553 transactions with disclosed valuation of $39.5 billion.
TPG and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board closed the largest LBO transaction of 2010. They acquired IMS Health Inc., a Norwalk, Conn.-based based provider of market intelligence services. The deal has a value of about $5.08 billion.