As professional tennis players do battle on the red clay of Roland Garros for the 2008 French Open tournament, several firms have served up fund-raising aces during the recent fortnight allowing buyout and mezzanine firms to hold serve and raise about $133.6 billion year-to-date.
The Boston-based private equity firm, which focuses on the energy and commodities sector, typically targets investments in the $50 million to $250 million range. Denham Capital has about $4.3 billion in invested and committed capital.
Deal activity
On the deal of the buyout market, activity bounced back from a week earlier when only three LBO transactions closed. The most recent week included 17 control-stake deals, according to Thomson Reuters (publisher of PE Week).
There were only two transactions with disclosed prices that combined for about $1.8 billion (see chart).
Billion-dollar deals have been scarce so far this year, but the most recent week featured one such transaction.