Monitor Closes $800M Fund –

Monitor Clipper Partners has closed its second fund with $800 million in limited partner commitments.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based firm was launched in 1997 to combine The Monitor Group’s consulting resources with The Clipper Group’s private equity expertise. It immediately went out and raised a $630 million debut fund, with plans to invest in middle-market buyout opportunities across a variety of industry sectors.

“Most of our deals come through our relationship with Monitor, and we work with their industry experts to analyze investment ideas,” explained Bill Young, a co-founder and managing director with MCP. “We basically are looking for companies that work in industries where we have significant knowledge.”

The strategy has proven popular among institutional investors, as MCP learned when it began raising its second stand-alone fund last summer. Young said that the firm, via placement agent The Monument Group, sent out pitch books with a $600 million target, but was pleased to hit its $800 million maximum cap in less than one year.

Monitor Clipper has not released any information on participating investors, although Young and Travis Metz, also a Monitor Clipper managing director, said that they succeeded in diversifying a Fund I limited partner base that was dominated by financial institutions. The firm also accepted one public pension fund and maintained an existing commitment from a group of The Monitor Co. executives.

“Monitor is an important investor, but a minority investor,” Metz said. He adds that the two firms establish arms-length consulting contracts at agreed-upon prices for deals that come through Monitor Co., and that the private equity shop pays out a small percentage of its carried interest to the consultancy.

The new MCP fund is technically split into a pair of co-investing vehicles, with $783 million committed to the general fund, and another $17 million committed to a side fund for “non-qualified” investors.

Personnel Additions

In concert with its fund close, Monitor Clipper has made two new senior hires from The Monitor Co. ranks.

Thomas Perkins has joined the firm as an operating principal, where he will focus on the performance of existing portfolio companies. He previously served as a partner with Monitor and leader of its manufacturing and private equity groups. He also had overseen Monitor’s consulting due diligence projects since 1998.

Also joining the MCP team is Meg Donigan. The firm’s new investment principal previously worked in Monitor’s corporate finance and operations practices, and had worked on due diligence support for MCP since 2001.