AW Manager Scorecard: Private Market Players Raise $58bn in OctoberNov20

By Susan Barreto, Alternatives Watch

Raising capital remotely has been a breeze for a number of top-tier private equity, credit and real estate firms that closed funds last month totaling more than $58 billion across 19 distinct investment offerings.

Alternatives Watch issues its monthly Manager Scorecard as a tally of announced fundraising activity and has done so since the beginning of 2020. After a bit of a lackluster summer, investment teams are back on track with even more dry powder to put to work – remotely just like the rest of us.

The full details of the five largest fund launch/closures in October follows below.

The largest round of fundraising was done by Thoma Bravo, which closed on more than $22 billion in new commitments across three of its tech-oriented investment funds. 

“We are grateful to our investors for their tremendous support and their continued confidence in our investment strategy,” said Orlando Bravo, founder and managing partner at the $70 billion Thoma Bravo in a statement. “Over the last 20 years, and over the course of more than 260 transactions, we’ve seen firsthand how well software can perform with the right investment and operational guidance.”

Recent investors tracked by Alternatives Watch include: The Virginia Retirement System ($150 million to Thoma Bravo XIV); Washington State Investment Board ($200 million to Thoma Bravo XIV); Merced County Employees’ Retirement Association ($8 million to Thoma Bravo Discover Fund III);  Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System ($50 million to Thoma Bravo XIV and $25 million to Thoma Bravo Discover Fund III; and Minnesota State Board of Investment ($150 million to Thoma Bravo XIV).

The second largest capital raise was at the $65 billion debt and private equity shop HPS Investment Partners, which announced the final closing of its mezzanine debt product at $11 billion that made it one of the largest dedicated mezzanine funds in the world.

HPS Mezzanine Partners 2019 began investing capital in April 2019 and right now is about 50% invested. This year so far, HPS’ private credit platform has put over $12 billion to work across 54 portfolio companies.

Industry observers expect the fundraising boom to continue as investors become more comfortable putting money to work with firms they have already established relationships with and those they are not able to visit for onsite due diligence that is often done now over video conferencing.