Twin Bridge Capital Secures Another $500M For Buyout Funds

Twin Bridge Capital Partners has closed on $500 million for its second separate account mandate from backer Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, which previously pledged the same amount to the firm’s first separate account, said Brian Gallagher, Twin Bridge Capital’s co-founder.

The relationship with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans can be traced to the time that Gallagher and business partner Debbie Ackerman worked at PPM America Capital Partners before launching Chicago-based Twin Bridge in 2005. At PPM America Capital they worked for the president of the firm, who is now the CIO of Thrivent Financial.

Twin Bridge Capital focuses on middle-market LBOs, investing about 70 percent in funds and 30 percent in co-investments, primarily in the United States, although the firm will consider Canada. It typically targets funds ranging from $250 million to $1.5 billion. The firm distinguishes itself from traditional funds of funds by its separate-account model, which creates customized investment funds for clients. Gallagher would not comment on the fees Twin Bridge Capital charges, other than to say they are very competitive and can vary with commitment level.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’s first $500 million separate account vehicle was committed to 18 fund investments and 15 co-investments. As previously reported in Buyouts, the firm invested alongside Centre Partners Management LLC, which specializes in North American mid-market companies, when it acquired Diversified Specialty Institutes Inc., a company that buys and develops hospitals, medical imaging facilities and dialysis centers. Twin Bridge Capital committed to a fund managed by Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison Inc., which focuses on consumer and industrial companies in the upper Midwest; it also co-invested in the firm’s $100 million acquisition of a men’s footwear retailer.

Gallagher said his firm intends to ramp up fundraising this month to diversify its limited partner base over the next several years. He’s looking to hire two placement agents, one in the United States and one in the United Kingdom. Twin Bridge Capital doesn’t have a specific fundraising target at this time.