Market wrap up: Clayton Dublier leads fund-raising parade

Fund-raising got a big bounce since PE Week last reported on capital raising efforts in the Aug. 25 issue. Buyout and mezzanine funds have raised $199.7 billion year-to-date.

Clayton Dubilier & Rice Inc. accounted for about $3.3 billion of the activity as Clayton Dubilier & Rice VIII held an interim close. The fund has a $7.5 billion target and a $9 billion hard cap. The buyout firm raised just over $4 billion for its previous fund, which closed in 2004.

Nautic Partners has closed its sixth fund at $800 million. The Providence, R.I.-based firm met the lowered target. The firm had intended to raise $1.2 billion, a little more than the $1.1 billion it raised for its fifth fund, which closed in 2001.

Meanwhile, Water Street Healthcare Partners held a final close on its second fund, raising $650 million, which surpassed its $600 million target (see story, page 4).

In addition, Prudential Capital Partners has raised $200 million towards the $900 million target of its latest mezzanine fund, Prudential Capital Partners III. Guggenheim Investment Management also has secured about $150 million for an energy opportunities fund that will seek investments in the debt and equity of U.S. energy companies. The fund has a $500 million goal.

Flurry of deals near summer’s end

The onset of Labor Day brought a surprising number of deals, compared to the relatively slow activity in the summer months. Thomson Reuters (publisher of PE Week) tracked 26 transactions during the last two weeks. The six LBO deals with disclosed prices had an aggregate value of about $5 billion. These transactions pushed year-to-date deal volume above the century mark to $102.6 billion.

A consortium made up of Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and PAI Partners was involved in the largest deal during the recent period when it acquired Xella International GmbH, a Duisburg, Germany-based maker of building construction materials, from Franz Haniel & Cie GmbH for about $3.2 billion. —Eamon Beltran