AEA hits $2bn hard-cap on Fund V

AEA Investors, a pioneering private investment firm, closed its fifth private equity fund earlier this year on its hard-cap of $2 billion, according to two sources with knowledge of the firm.

AEA, which traces its roots back to the 1960s, held a final close in February, though the fundraising process was basically wrapped up by the end of 2012, according to one person with knowledge of the fund. AEA had hit its target by last fall; the fund launched in late 2011.

AEA declined to comment.

UBS worked as placement agent on the fundraising, according to US Securities and Exchange Commission documents. AEA closed its fourth vehicle, AEA Investors 2006 Fund, on $1.3 billion. 

Fund V is about 20 percent deployed, according to one person familiar with the firm. Late last year, AEA acquired a 70 percent stake in the Suhyang Group, a Korean retailer of children’s apparel.

AEA also is in the market raising its third mezzanine fund and had collected about $345 million by late March, according to SEC documents. The firm was founded in 1968 by the Rockefeller, Mellon and Harriman families and SG Warburg & Company. AEA focuses on control buyouts in sectors including industrial products, specialty chemicals and consumer products.

The firm is led by chairman and chief executive John Garcia, who joined in 1999 as managing director and head of AEA’s European operations. In 2011, founding chairman Carl Hess passed away.