Riverstone Holdings LLC has closed a fund with $7.7 billion in commitments, surpassing the original $6 billion target.

The fund, called Riverstone Global Energy and Power Fund V LP, will invest in energy and power businesses. The fund has already invested $2.3 billion in 19 companies and is Riverstone's largest.

Riverstone, headquartered in New York, focuses on investing in energy companies. The firm was founded in 2000 and has about $25 billion in equity capital across seven funds. Investments include Ridgebury Tankers LLC, in which Riverstone invested $200 million in April, Legend Natural Gas, and Dresser Inc. 

For Riverstone, the deal comes about four years after it paid $30 million to settle its part in a scandal that arose after an investigation over millions of dollars and favors that friends and aides of Alan Hevesi, formerly the state comptroller, received from PE firms looking to gain pension fund investments. 

The energy sector has hosted a plethora of M&A activity lately, due in part to an attempt to reduce dependence on foreign oil. 

Energy industry