Industrial specialist Greenbriar doubles firepower with latest raise

Fundraising launched in the fourth quarter of last year and was entirely virtual in an Evercore-advised process.

Greenbriar Equity Group, a US buyout firm, has held a final close on its fifth fund, raising twice the amount of its predecessor.

The New York-based firm collected $1.7 billion for Greenbriar Equity Fund V against a $1 billion target after less than six months in market, per a statement seen by Private Equity International. Fundraising launched in the fourth quarter of last year and was entirely virtual.

Fund V had no formal hard-cap and included a “very meaningful” GP commitment, managing partner Noah Roy told PEI.

“For Fund V we were able to expand geographically, adding some blue-chip corporate pension funds, insurance and consultants in the US, and expanding with some high quality investors in Europe and Asia,” he added.

Evercore acted as placement agent for Fund V.

Greenbriar raised $815 million for the 2017-vintage Greenbriar Equity Fund IV, which had a $1.25 billion target, according to PEI data.

Fund V will continue Greenbriar’s strategy of taking control positions across the industrial services and advanced manufacturing sectors in the US. The firm’s portfolio includes aerospace business Arotech, logistics company LaserShip and manufacturer Whitcraft Group.

Recent deals include the acquisition of maintenance business Oil Changers earlier this month and a $500 million Series A funding round for Uber Freight, the ride-sharing giant’s logistics arm, in October. The firm also agreed to sell rail supplier Nordco to Wabtec Corporation on Tuesday.

Greenbriar employs a buy-and-build approach and has completed about 80 add-on acquisitions in its previous two funds, Roy said.

“We are particularly active right now in logistics, distribution and related services,” he noted.

“Covid has shown both the essential role of supply chains but also their fragility and need for investment. Some sectors have seen real disruption while others have seen a dramatic acceleration in growth. B2C e-commerce, for instance, has seen a rapid acceleration in its penetration curve and we expect that is a pretty durable and structural shift.”

Founded in 1999, Greenbriar has raised over $6 billion of committed capital across six funds. The firm has a 21-strong team and has completed 35 platform acquisitions to date.

– Adam Le contributed to this report.