Market At A Glance

Fundraising efforts of the past couple of weeks brought the year-to-date level of commitments that buyout and mezzanine shops secured to about $50.7 billion. During the period, Berkshire Partners LLC reported it completed its latest investment vehicle above its $4 billion goal. Berkshire Fund VIII LP secured $4.5 billion in commitments. The Boston, Mass.-based firm started the fundraising process in January.

Boathouse Capital also held the final close of its debut fund at $120 million. The Wayne, Pa.-based shop plans to use the vehicle, Boathouse Capital I, to invest mezzanine debt and equity in lower middle market companies.

Thomson Reuters, the publisher of Buyouts magazine, tracked another busy two weeks in terms of completed deals by U.S.-based sponsors. It counted 30 from July 13 to 26. The four with reported financial terms combined for about $2.5 billion and this pushed the deal volume so far this year to $55.77 billion.

Providence Equity Partners LLC was involved in the latest period’s top deal. It acquired SRA International Inc., a Fairfax, Va.-based provider of computer programming and consulting services. The deal had a rank value of about $1.69 billion.