Firm: Cortec Group
Fund: Cortec Group Fund V LP
Target: $500 million to $600 million
Placement Agent: None
The New York-based shop raised $600 million in commitments from LPs and principals at the firm are committing an additional $20 million. The firm’s target had been $500 million.
The fundraise is significant considering that Cortec raised it after barely five months in what for many firms has been a difficult fundraising market. Cortec also did it alone, with Managing Partner David Schnadig leading the effort rather than hiring a placement agent.
The fund,
Backers of fund V include investors in previous Cortec funds, such as the
Working in Cortec’s favor was the fact that limited partners, soured on the large megafunds of previous years, have been increasingly interested in mid-market buyout funds. In a survey the placement agency Probitas Partners released last December, 46 percent of LP respondents said they were likely to back mid-market buyout funds ranging in size from $500 million to $2.5 billion, compared to 5 percent who said they would back LBO funds of $5 billion and up.
More importantly, Cortec’s recent funds are performing well. Fund IV, though still reasonably young, has generated a 1.4x return so far. And fund III, a $332 million, vintage 2000 fund, has so far generated gross cash-on-cash returns of about 3x, according to the source (UTIMCO puts the multiples for funds III and IV at 2.10x and 1.04x, respectively, but those numbers were last updated in May 2010).
Cortec typically invests in companies with $40 million to $300 million in annual revenues in a variety of sectors. The firm prefers market-leading companies with histories of profitability; it also targets companies undergoing management transitions, in need growth equity, or that are struggling with too much debt.
Cortec’s Fund IV companies include