Solera Capital, Led By Molly Ashby, Launches Fund II: UPDATED

Solera Capital is one of the industry’s few buyout firms founded and led by women. Started in 1999, the New York-based firm is led by Chief Executive Molly Ashby, a former JPMorgan investment banker.

A presentation on Solera Capital’s new fund has been scheduled for the Oregon Investment Council’s May 29 board meeting. The fund is reportedly seeking to raise $350 million, about $100 million more than the firm’s debut fund.

The firm invests in industries that are going through rapid changes. Investments by the firm have typically ranged between $10 million and $40 million, according to a previous profile of the firm in Buyouts Magazine.

In early 2012, Solera Capital had a breakout success with the IPO of Annie’s Inc, a Berkeley, California-based maker of organic pasta and salad dressings. Shares in Annie’s surged more than 80 percent to $35.92 on the company’s opening day of trading and they now hover at slightly more than $40 a share. Annie’s had been a Solera Capital portfolio company since 2002.

Oregon’s main pension fund invested $50 million in Solera Capital’s debut fund in 2000. That fund, which raised $245 million overall, has delivered a moderate IRR (9.3 percent), but an excellent return multiple (2.3x) according to December 2012 return data from Oregon.

Other investors in Solera Capital’s debut fund include the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association and the New York City Retirement Systems.

The firm will no doubt face some hard questions on the fundraising trail. Twelve years is an uncommonly long stretch between fundraises for a buyout firm. And the shop endured executive turnover in its first few years.

Ashby is the sole remaining founder of the firm. Another co-founder, Karen Gordon Mills left the firm in 2004. She was tapped in 2009 by President Barack Obama to head the Small Business Administration. A third co-founder, Lori Koffman, left the firm in 2003 and became a rabbi in 2010.

Calls to the firm’s placement agent, Denning & Company, were not returned.

(The story was updated to add the Ashby’s title, and add details about the departures of the two co-founders who left the firm.)