Onex may polish off $4.5 billion flagship fund by midyear: LP

“Onex will have it done within six months,” the LP said of Toronto-based Onex, which has been visible with deals and capital commitments of late.

Onex Partners IV disclosed about $3.1 billion commitments in a Form D filing on Dec. 16 with 38 investors participating in the offering.

Among LPs participating in the fund, Maine Public Employees’ Retirement System approved a $60 million commitment last year; The Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association committed $150 million to Onex Partners IV.

Past LPs for Onex Partners include Alaska Permanent Fund Corp, California Public Employees’ Retirement System, California State Teachers’ Retirement System, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, and Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System.

A long-time private equity investor and a publicly-traded firm on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Onex generated an IRR of 28 percent on realized, substantially realized and publicly-traded investments, according to the firm’s website. The company has produced a gross multiple of capital invested of 2.9 times on realized, substantially realized and publicly-traded private equity investments, according to its website.

Founder Gerry Schwartz holds 67.6 percent of the voting control and continues to serve as chairman and CEO of Onex, according to its website.

The latest Onex fund is targeting just a bit below the $4.7 billion raised in the vintage 2009 Onex Partners III. Portfolio companies in that fund include Tropicana Las Vegas, Tomkins, ResCare, Jeld-Wen, SGS International and KraussMaffei Group. All told, Fund III has completed nine acquisitions with $3.6 billion of capital invested.

Also on the fundraising front, Onex wrapped up its fourth collateralized loan obligation offering at $514 million, including $40 million from the firm, in October.

On the deal front, Onex and the CPPIB are exploring a sale or an initial public offering for Tomkins Plc, a maker of auto parts and building products, according to a report by sister news service Reuters. The IPO could value the company at as much as $7 billion, about $2 billion more than the two Canadian asset managers paid for the firm in 2010, including debt.

On Jan. 15, Onex announced that its portfolio company Emerald Expositions had completed its deal to buy George Little Managements, a trade show operator in the U.S., for $335 million.