Merchant bank MTS Health draws $188 million for Fund III

Firm: MTS Health Partners

Fund: MTS Health Partners III

Amount raised: $188 million

Target: Undisclosed

Placement Agents: Du Pasquier & Co, Probitas Partners

MTS revealed the commitments and a total offering amount of $188 million in a Form D amendment on Feb. 20. It’s not clear if the fund remains in the market, or if it officially reduced the total offering amount of $300 million listed in an earlier Form D filing from Feb. 28, 2013.  An email to MTS Health Partners was not immediately returned.

MTS Health Investors II GP, the firm’s prior fund that disclosed $175 million in commitments in 2007, is listed as a shareholder in the Oct. 30 initial public offering of Surgical Care Affiliates. MTS sold 163,005 shares worth $3.9 million based on Surgical Care’s IPO price of $24 a share. Co-owner TPG Capital also offered shares in the IPO.

MTS currently holds 2.46 million shares in Surgical Care valued at $75 million based on its closing price of $30.45 a share on Feb. 20.

MTS also received a portion of the $74.9 million dividend paid out to shareholders of Surgical Care on Sept. 16. TPG’s share of the dividend was $66.6 million and other membership unit holders, including MTS, got $8.3 million, according to a filing.

MTS Health Investors specializes in equity investments in operating companies with valuations of $25 million to $300 million in services sectors of the healthcare industry, the firm said on its website. MTS will take part in larger deals with other private equity funds.

“We focus on profitable companies that deliver cost-effective services and have the ability to gain market share in industry segments that are typically large, growing, fragmented and poised for consolidation,” MTS said on its website.

In December  2012, MTS Health Investors acquired Vital Decisions, a specialist in counseling programs for patients with advanced illnesses, for an undisclosed sum.

Founded in 2000, MTS Health Partners’s top co-investors include Oaktree Capital Management, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, according to the Thomson One private equity database.