Private Advisors Seeks $200M For Fourth FFs

Firm: Private Advisors

Fund: Private Advisors Small Company Buyout Fund IV LP

Target: $200 million

Richmond, Va.-based Private Advisors has begun raising its fourth small-company buyout fund of funds, according to a regulatory filing.

The firm seeks commitments from both individuals ($1 million minimum investment) and institutions ($5 million minimum) toward a $200 million target. The shop aims to back 10 to 15 managers in Private Advisors Small Company Buyout Fund IV LP. Target funds will be earmarked for the lower end of the middle market, companies generating annual revenues of $150 million or less, and that go for EBITDA purchase multiples ranging from 4x to 6x. The firm believes that smaller companies provide a better opportunity to create value via operational improvements using prudent leverage levels.

Private Advisors also is raising a global private equity fund seeking $600 million; a European small company buyout fund with a $200 million target; and a special situations fund targeting $50 million. The firm’s limited partners have included the Appalachian State University Foundation, the Chrysler Museum of Art, the MacArthur Foundation, Mississippi State University Foundation, and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Private Advisors Small Company Buyout Fund III
, the predecessor fund, originally targeted $500 million, according to a September 2006 regulatory filing. But, as previously reported in sister newsletter PE Week, the target at some point was reduced to $300 million because the firm decided to change its fundraising model to include smaller but more frequent offerings. The firm ended up raising about $200 million for Fund III, of which about half has been invested, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Private Advisors has more than 1,000 LPs, 80 percent of which are institutional investors.