Market At A Glance

Fundraising took a healthy leap in the past two weeks, led by the first close of Blackstone Capital Partners VI LP at $7.1 billion. Blackstone Group LP didn’t meet its original plan to complete an $8 billion initial close in April but the latest commitments helped U.S. buyout and mezzanine firms elevate fundraising levels to $176.5 billion from $160.4 billion two weeks ago.

First Reserve Corp. picked up from where Blackstone left off, raising more than $4.5 billion for its twelfth fund. The firm, which focuses on the energy industry, has a $12 billion target and a $16 billion hard cap for First Reserve XII LP.

Also Brazos Private Equity Partners LLC raised $526.6 million towards Brazos Equity Fund III LP’s $600 million goal and Fortress Investment Group LLC held a $500 million close for its sixth fund, which has a $6 billion target. In addition, Primus Capital Partners Inc. closed its sixth fund at $275 million. The fund had a $250 million target.

On the deal side, U.S. LBO firms completed 14 transactions during the past fortnight. The six with disclosed prices were valued at about $7.1 billion, according to Thomson Reuters, the publisher of Buyouts.

A special purpose vehicle, formed by Avista Capital Holdings and Nordic Capital, accounted for the largest deal of the period with a $4.1 billion acquisition of skincare products and medical supplies maker ConvaTec Ltd. from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. The other big-dollar deal was The Carlyle Group LLC’s purchase of a majority stake in Booz Allen Hamilton’s government contracting business for $2.54 billion. Year-to-date deal flow stands at $97.5 billion.