Webster Capital Fund IV seeks $650 mln

Webster Capital is back in the market with its fourth flagship fund.

The Waltham, Massachusetts, private equity firm is targeting $650 million for Webster Capital IV LP, Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System documents dated Feb. 9 show. The hard cap for Webster IV is $800 million, the PSERS documents said.

The firm’s last fund, Webster Capital III LP, closed at $400 million in 2014. A first close of Webster Fund IV was expected in January and a final close expected in the first quarter, Pennsylvania PSERS said. Webster’s commitment will represent at least 3.8 percent of its total size, the documents said.

Founded in 2003, Webster Capital seeks lower-middle-market investments in healthcare services and branded consumer sectors. The firm typically invests from $20 million to $60 million equity per deal. The firm is named after the founding partner’s dog, a Labrador retriever. In fact, a photo of Webster appears on the firm’s website.

Last week, Webster clinched its third buy of a healthcare-staffing agency. The firm said March 6 that it bought Emerald Health Services, which places nurses in acute-care hospitals and healthcare facilities across California.

Webster in October acquired Cirrus Medical Staffing, a Charlotte, North Carolina, provider of travel nursing. The firm invested in a recruitment firm for life-sciences companies, PharmaLogics Recruiting, in February.

Webster Capital could not be reached for comment.

Photo is not of Webster but of Carly, a nearly 14-year-old Labrador retriever, appearing at a news conference at a federal court in Austin on Nov. 17, 2014. REUTERS/Jon Herskovitz