TPG Said Set To Raise $2.5B For Distress

TPG is seeking roughly $2.5 billion for TPG Opportunities Partners III LP, Bloomberg News reported. TPG is preparing to start formal marketing for Opportunities III and has yet to set an official target for the fund, the story said.

TOP, which stands for TPG Opportunities Partners, was formed in 2009 to invest in deals after the financial crisis. Alan Waxman, the former co-head of Goldman Sachs Americas Special Situations Group, runs TOP.

The prior fund, TPG Opportunities Partners II, collected $2.5 billion, Bloomberg said. Fund II had a $1.5 billion target, according to a 2011 memo from the New Jersey State Investment Council. TPG’s second opportunities fund targets special situations and distressed investments across the credit cycle in corporate and asset special situations, the memo said. TPG’s prior opportunities fund closed at $2.1 billion in 2012, a source said.

One placement said it seems very soon for TPG to be out marketing for a fresh opportunities fund. Fund II “was 38 percent invested in March and a number of GPs are complaining that there is still very little deal flow at the large end of the distressed debt market,” the source said.

News of the fundraising comes after TPG recently asked for an extension of the investment period for its last buyout fund. TPG Partners VI LP collected $19 billion in 2008 and reportedly has $3 billion left to invest. TPG requested an extension of the investment period by 12 months to February 2015, Reuters reported. Fund IV’s LPs agreed to the extension, Reuters said.

Executives at TPG declined comment.

Luisa Beltran is a senior writer for peHUB.