Rubicon targets $500 mln for sophomore fund

Rubicon Technology Partners is raising its sophomore private equity fund with a target of about $500 million, two years after veterans at the firm from Blackstone Group and Court Square Capital wrapped up its inaugural pool.

Rubicon, with offices in Menlo Park, California, and Stamford, Connecticut, closed Rubicon Technology Partners LP, its debut fund, at $305 million in late 2014, beating its $250 million target by 22 percent with placement firm Capstone Partners. The firm has yet to file a Form D for Fund II.

The firm did not return an email.

Rubicon, which targets control equity investments of $30 million to $75 million for software companies with proven management teams, lists four portfolio companies on its website: 3esi-Enersight, 4tell, Astute Solutions and Personify.

In December the firm made a growth investment in 3esi, a provider of software to the oil-and-gas industry. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Last November, Rubicon made a significant investment in 4tell Solutions LP, a provider of software and services for real estate and infrastructure performance management.

John Hodge, a partner at Rubicon, from 2006 through 2011 was senior managing director and senior adviser at Blackstone. He worked directly on investments in Freescale Semiconductor and SunGard. Andy Gesell, a partner at the firm, was a partner at Court Square Capital from 2005 to 2012.

Steve Carpenter, also a partner at Rubicon, held various senior-management posts at Ventyx, a provider of software for the energy and utility sectors. Ventyx was a portfolio company of Vista Equity Partners. It was sold to ABB in 2010.

Action Item: Rubicon Technology, http://rubicontp.com/contact.html

Photo courtesy ©iStock/Kagenmi