Summit Partners launches $750 mln Credit Fund II

Firm: Summit Partners

Fund: Summit Partners Credit Fund II LP

Target: $750 million

Placement Agent: None

The Boston-based firm said in the filing that it plans to seek $750 million for Summit Partners Credit Fund II LP. The filing showed that the firm has made no sales yet to investors, nor does it identify a placement agent assisting with the fund.

A spokeswoman for the firm said she could not discuss fundraising.

Summit Partners closed its Credit Fund I in August 2012 at $520 million, well ahead of its $350 million target for the vehicle, according to the Thomson One private equity database.

Summit Partners says the primary focus areas for its credit investing are financial and business services, media and technology, consumer products, health care and life sciences, gaming and leisure, and manufacturing and distribution, according to its website. But the firm said it will consider any company with profitability, stable growth and strong management.

In addition to the two credit funds, which Thomson One identifies as mezzanine funds, Summit Partners has been raising subordinated debt funds since at least 1994, the database shows.

Summit Partners makes both control and non-control investments in growth companies, according to its website. The firm has a wide strike zone, investing as little as $5 million to more than $500 million per transaction. In addition to venture capital and growth equity investments for target company expansion, recapitalization, shareholder liquidity and buyouts, a firm brochure says it makes credit investments either as stand-alone financing or as sub debt in connection with a Summit Partners equity injection.

Overall, the firm has raised at least 17 equity and credit funds since its founding in 1984. The brochure says it employs more than 75 investment pros in its Boston, Menlo Park, London and Mumbai offices.

Known LP Investors in Summit investing vehicles include the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, the Illinois State Board of Investment, the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System, the Maine Public Employees Retirement System, the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, the Minnesota State Board of Investment, the Nevada Public Employees’ Retirement System, the New York City Comptroller’s Office, the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System and Yale University, according to Thomson One.