Wasserstein closes biggest fund to date

Mid-market firm Wasserstein & Co. has closed its latest flagship fund, Wasserstein Partners IV, on $790 million, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The fund, which launched in August 2015 with a $750 million target and no hard-cap, is the largest fund to date for the firm. The fund’s final close was first reported by PEHub.

The source told Private Equity International that “virtually all” of the limited partners in the previous funds returned to this vehicle.

Fund IV has so far invested an undisclosed amount one portfolio company, according to the firm’s website: business-to-business travel information provider Northstar Travel Group. There are six remaining portfolio companies in the previous fund, Wasserstein Partners III.

The third fund held a final close in September 2014 on $403 million, above its $300 million target, according to PEI data. LPs in that fund include fund of funds managers Alpha Associates, Private Equity Holding AG, and Pantheon International, according to PEI data.

Performance metrics, such as the internal rates of return, were not available for past Wasserstein funds.

New York-based Wasserstein launched in 2001 as a spinout from merchant bank Wasserstein Perella & Co. It targets companies in the media and communications, consumer products, and water and industrial sectors generating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation between $10 million and $50 million, according to its website. It makes between $50 million and $200 million in equity per transaction.

This latest fund is managed by Wasserstein co-managing partners Anup Bagaria and George Majoros, senior partner Robert Fogelson, and chief financial officer Robert Mersten, according to an SEC filing from August 2015.

Earlier this month, Wasserstein and fellow mid-market firm MidOcean Partners exited their co-ownership of business tools and data analytics provider Penton in a $1.56 billion sale, as reported by PEI.