Market wrap up: Advent leads quiet fund-raising week

By
Brad Meikle
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Fund-raising was slow in the past week. But whether the lack of activity was a result of the Wall Street crisis, remains to be seen.

So far this year, buyout and mezzanine firms have raised $223.2 billion in new funds.

The fund-raising numbers were helped by Advent International Corp., which closed its first private equity fund in Japan, called Advent Japan Private Equity Fund, at $560 million. The amount raised by the Boston-based firm is slightly higher than the $550 million target.

Deals robust

Though fund-raising was quiet, leverage buyout firms have completed 15 control-stake transactions during the past week.

The year-to-date deal flow rose to $106.8 billion, compared to just over $104 billion the previous week.

A share of the latest period’s total came from First Reserve Corp.’s acquisition of CHC Helicopter Corp., a Canadian provider of helicopter transportation services to the offshore oil and gas industry. The LBO deal was valued at $2.2 billion.

Lighthouse Holdings Inc. paid $480 million to acquire American Beacon Advisors Inc. Lighthouse, a unit of Pharos Capital Group and TPG Capital, purchased the provider of investment advisory services from AMR Corp. —Eamon Beltran