Peterson Partners closes Fund VII on $140m

Lower mid-market firm Peterson Partners has closed its Fund VII on $140 million, north of its $100 million target.

The Salt Lake City-based firm launched Fund VII in late 2012 with a hard-cap of $150 million and attracted the “vast majority” of capital from exiting investors, managing partner Dan Peterson told Private Equity International. The firm attracted all of its capital from high-net worth individuals. Peterson’s Fund VI closed in 2011 on $55 million, well below its Fund V that collected $115 million in 2006.

“The former managing partner of the firm had departed prior to raising Fund VI, so we wanted to give everybody a chance to see how the new management team performed and the kinds of deals we were able to generate,” Peterson said. “We called it an interstitial fund.”

Peterson makes growth capital investments of between $2 million and $15 million in a variety of industries, but does not invest in the biotech or high-tech sectors, Peterson said. The firm has yet to deploy any capital from Fund VII and still has enough dry powder for one more investment out of Fund VI.

Current investments include commercial aircraft leasing company Jetscape, financial services provider Ladder Capital and industrial product-maker Rocky Mountain Rubber. 

Peterson is led by founding partner Joel Peterson, chairman of JetBlue Airways, and brother Dan Peterson, a former managing director at Z Capital. The firm, which was an early investor in JetBlue, has a total of six investment professionals and plans to add a vice president and senior associate in the coming months, Peterson said. 

Peterson was founded in 1995 and has managed more than $350 million of capital through its seven funds.