Market at a glance: Lindsay secures $2.7B for fund III

Several buyout firms were busy fund-raising last week following a two-week period in which the market slowed.

The momentum of the past week brought the year-to-date total to $138.9 billion.

Lindsay Goldberg led fund-raising efforts with the first close of Lindsay Goldberg III at $2.7 billion. The New York-based firm seeks $4 billion for the fund.

Towerbrook Capital Partners raised $1.7 billion for Towerbrook Investors III, which seeks to fill up its coffers with up to $2.75 billion in commitments. The firm raised $1.3 billion for fund II, which closed in 2006. UBS Securities is serving as placement agent. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is an LP in the Towerbrook fund.

Meanwhile, Avenue Capital Group completed the first close of Avenue Europe Special Situations Fund at $867 million. The Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System is backing the distressed debt fund, which seeks to raise $2.3 billion.

Other firms active during the past week include Los Angeles-based Levine Leichtman Capital Partners Inc., which has raised $425 million for Levine Leichtman Capital Partners Fund IV, and Cambridge, Mass.-based Intervale Capital LLC, which has closed its debut buyout fund Intervale Capital Fund I with more than $280 million.

Deal activity

On the deals side, 10 control-stake transactions closed in the past week, according to Thomson Reuters (publisher of PE Week). The only LBO-backed transaction that had a disclosed price was by an investor group that acquired the remaining 53.9% interest it did not already own in Dominion Homes Inc. for $206.9 million. The group that purchased the provider of construction services is comprised by Angelo Gordon & Co., Silver Point Capital and BRC Properties Inc.

Overall, the pace of deal flow has been slow, and year-to-date deal volume crawled up to $56.1 billion.