Charlesbank Capital Partners has closed a $1.75 billion private equity fund, benefitting from the best fundraising climate since pre-recession 2008. 

The firm began marketing the fund in April with a $1.5 billion target, and reached the $1.75 billion hard-cap at the end of June.

Investors, most of which previously invested in Charlesbank funds, included endowments, foundations, family offices and pension funds.

Boston-based Charlesbank focuses on middle-market transactions, and typically deploys between $50 million and $150 million per transaction. The firm expects the new fund, called Charlesbank Equity Fun VIII, to make between 12 and 15 investments. Targets are generally in the industrial products, energy, logistics, building products, consumer, telecommunications, health care and financial services sectors, with enterprise values between $100 million and $750 million. Since it was founded in 1998, the firm has invested $2.8 billion in 45 middle-market companies.

Goodwin Procter served as outside fund counsel.

Other PE firms benefitting from the strong fundraising climate are Thoma Bravo LLC, which closed a $3.65 billion fund in May, and the Jordan Co., which closed a $3.2 billion fund, also in May. 

 

Financial services industry