Fenway eyeing $1bn

Fenway Partners is seeking as much as $1 billion (€831 million) for its third fund, according to filings with Securities and Exchange Commission, and has already closed on roughly $205 million in limited partner commitments.

Lamm: Fenway Partners hits the fundraising trail for its third fund.

The new vehicle is a follow-up to the New York firm’s 1998-vintage second fund, which raised $909 million. That fund has managed to post an internal rate of return of 9.3 percent, during what has been a notoriously difficult period in the industry. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), a past investor in Fenway funds, also discloses on its website that Fenway’s second fund has returned 1.3x its invested capital.

Fenway, headed by CEO Peter Lamm, has been fairly active during the past six months. In November, the firm acquired laptop luggage maker Targus Group International from Apax Partners in a $383 million acquisition. Also, this past February, Fenway completed an add-on deal for its Riddell Bell Holdings sporting goods platform, absorbing baseball bat maker Easton Sports through a $400 million transaction. The purchase of Targus was the last acquisition for Fenway out of its second fund.

One of the firm’s more successful investments was its buyout of mattress maker Simmons, which it acquired for $483 million in 1998 and sold to Thomas H. Lee Partners in a $1.1 billion deal five years later.

A spokesman for Fenway declined comment for this story. However, according to the SEC documents, which were signed on March 6 by Fenway president Richard Dresdale, the firm has already lined up 18 investors for the fund.

Limited partners in past Fenway funds include CalPERS and the Oregon Public Employees’ Retirement Fund.

There was no placement agent listed in the documents.