Veritas gearing up for next flagship fundraise later this year

Despite the muted fundraising environment, several managers have marketed, and successfully raised, large funds. Another one coming out later this year is from Veritas Capital, which has seen rapid growth over the past few years investing into the intersection of government and technology.

Veritas, formed in 1992, will target at least as much as its prior Fund VIII, which closed last year on $10.65 billion. Sources speculated Fund IX could target around $12 billion or more.

No one from Veritas responded to a comment request this week. Veritas is expected to launch Fund IX in the fourth quarter, working with PJT Park Hill as placement agent, sources said. The fund also appeared on a list of anticipated funds in market from the Texas County & District Retirement System.

The fund will hit the market at a time when many managers have struggled to reach their targets. For many firms, fundraising timelines have extended to 18 months or even two years, a staggering reversal from the speed of fundraising in 2021 and early 2022.

North American private equity, including buyouts, growth, venture and secondaries, collected $228 billion between January and June, down 26 percent from a year earlier, according to Buyouts data.

GPs have been asking to codify longer fundraising timelines in limited partner agreements to provide cushions of 18 months from first close to final close, Buyouts previously reported. “The fundraising market is brutal now. There’s a lot less shame in a sponsor saying, ‘We need more time to fundraise than in the past’ – sponsors are less self conscious about it,” Stephanie Srulowitz, a partner in Weil’s US private funds practice, told Buyouts in a prior interview.

Veritas closed its seventh fund in 2019 on $6.5 billion, while Fund VI closed on $3.55 billion in 2017. Fund VIII, still early in its life, was producing a 0.96x total value to paid-in multiple as of the first quarter, according to performance data from Oregon Investment Council.

Fund VII was generating a 1.39x TVPI, while Fund VI was producing a 3.66x multiple and a 47.3 percent net internal rate of return – both as of the same date, according to Oregon’s information.

Veritas was formed by Robert McKeon, who came from Wasserstein Perella. McKeon died in 2012 and leadership shifted to Ramzi Musallam, who leads the firm along with Hugh Evans.

The firm targets investments in companies that provide products, software and primarily technology or tech-enabled services to government and commercial customers around the world, according to Veritas’ Form ADV. The firm works in industries supported by a government-related customer base or impacted by government regulation and policy, the ADV said.

Veritas was part of an investor group earlier this year that included Elliott Investment Management and Patient Square Capital that acquired Syneos Health in an all-cash deal for about $7.1 billion.