JACKSONVILLE, Fla. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warren Equity Partners Manager, L.P. (“WEP” or the “Firm”) announced the final close of its latest flagship private equity investment fund, Warren Equity Partners Fund IV, L.P. and Warren Equity Partners Fund IV-A, L.P. (collectively, “WEP IV”) at over $1.4 billion. WEP IV closed on its hard cap, exceeding its initial target of $1.2 billion. The oversubscribed fund includes commitments from a diverse group of new and returning investors including pension funds, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, fund of funds, and family offices.
WEP invests in the form of buyouts and recapitalizations in established North American companies with a focus on businesses that maintain, operate, and upgrade infrastructure. WEP has raised over $3.3 billion in aggregate commitments, and has completed 99 transactions, including the acquisition of 26 platform companies.
“Despite the challenging fundraising market, we had tremendous interest in WEP IV, which we believe was driven by the quality of our team, our performance in prior funds, the attractiveness of our investment strategy, as well as continued support from our long-time limited partners,” said Steven Wacaster, Co-Founder and Managing Partner. “We have invested significantly in our team and remain excited about continuing to build strong partnerships with market leading companies in our core sectors. Our team will work hard to continue to execute for our investors and employees at both our Firm and portfolio companies.”
WEP targets operating companies in the middle market that provide mission-critical products and services to the infrastructure and building markets. WEP continues to invest through a partnership approach, building leading teams, promoting organic commercialization strategies, and pursuing select buy-and-build opportunities across its portfolio. The successful fundraise demonstrates limited partners’ continued interest in finding strategies that take advantage of the strong macro tailwinds of the infrastructure investing landscape.
“We are thankful for our limited partners, including many returning investors and select new investors, for their strong support,” said Scott Bruckmann, Co-Founder and Partner. “Each of the first four investments of WEP IV were identified as part of our thematic research, through which we take a long-term view of underlying trends in our sectors. We will continue to exercise discipline with our distinct sector focus and seek to improve our portfolio companies with our unique operating system to drive value creation.”
WEP IV has completed four platform investments to date: Code Red Safety, a tech-enabled provider of integrated safety solutions, including high risk and technical safety products and outsourced safety services, for industrial end markets; kV Power, a provider of electrical utility grid and infrastructure maintenance services; Traffic Management Solutions, a provider of integration services for intelligent traffic systems (ITS) technologies; and Ovation Holdings, an integrated distribution and MRO service platform for the flow control and instrumentation markets.
Aqueduct Capital Group served as the placement agent for WEP IV and Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided legal counsel.
About Warren Equity Partners
Warren Equity Partners is a private equity firm that invests in the middle market primarily in North America. The firm invests in established companies where additional capital and operating resources can accelerate growth, targeting companies that provide mission-critical products and services to the infrastructure and building markets. Warren Equity invests in the form of buyouts, growth equity, and recapitalizations. For more information, please visit www.warrenequity.com.
