Philly Shop Nears Halfway Mark On Fund IV

Milestone Partners has raised about $150 million for its fourth fund, a source close to the firm’s plans told Buyouts.

Executives at the Radnor, Pa.-based shop are targeting $350 million for the fund, Milestone Partners IV LP. The firm has also hired Capstone Partners, a Dallas-based placement agent with offices in Europe and Asia, to help it raise the fund. Buyouts reported in February 2011 that Milestone Partners was interviewing placement agents for the effort.

Milestone Partners has been steadily increasing its fund sizes since its inception in 1995. The firm, which buys lower-mid market companies, raised $240 million for its most recent fund and, before that, invested from a $120 million fund and a $36 million fund, respectively. The firm typically invests around $35 million to $45 million of equity in companies generating revenue of at least $15 million and EBITDA of $3 million to $20 million.

With its first close in hand, the firm has started putting Fund IV to work. On Jan. 19 it announced its acquisition of Machine Laboratory LLC, a company based in Lenexa, Kan., that manufactures components used in the aerospace, defense, automotive and medical sectors.

Last year, Milestone Partners added to its senior staff, brining in Ric Andersen, a former managing director with Silver Lake, the technology-focused firm currently investing from a $9.3 billion fund. For Silver Lake Andersen helped establish an operations team focused on helping to manage portfolio companies. Andersen focuses on portfolio company management at Milestone Partners while also checking out new investments.

Scott Warren, a former managing director with Philadelphia First Group and Beacon Capital; and Robert Levine, a former investment banker with Lehman Bros. and Legg Mason Wood Walker, co-founded the firm in 1995. Levine is now a senior advisor to the firm, while Warren and John Shoemaker, who joined the firm in 2002, are managing partners.

By Bernard Vaughan