Market wrap up: Oaktree, Edgewater buoy LBO activity

The fund-raising activities of domestic buyout and mezzanine funds rose slightly during the past week with the effort of two shops. The year-to-date total settled at about $54.69 billion.

Oaktree Capital Management raised $1 billion for OCM Opportunities Fund VIII, according to data from Thomson One Banker, which receives its information directly from firms. The Los Angeles-based shop is seeking to raise $4 billion for the vehicle.

Meanwhile, Edgewater Funds also raised $153.6 million for Edgewater Growth Equity Partners III, which has a $750 million target. The Chicago, Ill.-based shop invests in growth companies that generate revenue of $20 million to $500 million.

Deal activity

On the deals front, Thomson Reuters (publisher of PE Week) tracked nine LBO deals from Oct. 27 through Nov. 3. Only two disclosed financial terms and a majority was from the acquisition of GenTek Inc. by American Securities’s indirect subsidiary, which acquired 94.27% of the of Parsippany, N.J.-based industrial component maker. The deal has a rank value of $538.8 million.

The other deal during the most recent period with known valuation concerns a management-led investor group’s purchase of Spartech Corp.’s wheel business, Spartech Industries Inc., for $34.5 million. The investor was backed by Stamford, Conn.-based Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners.

These two transactions combined for $573.3 million and pushed year-to-date deal volume to $23.21 billion.