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Canadian buy-out firm Edgestone closes fund on C$361m

Edgestone Capital Partners, a Canadian firm focusing on mid-market buy-outs, has reached a final close on its second fund with commitments of C$361m. Swander Pace Capital, a US private equity group specialising in consumer goods businesses, has also reported reached a final close on $325m.

Edgestone president and managing partner Samuel L Duboc said: ‘We are very pleased that we have successfully completed one of the largest Canadian private equity fundraisings of the year despite the challenging economic environment.'

The fund will make investments of between C$15m and C$40m in mid and later stage private and public companies across a broad range of industries. It has already made three investments worth a combined C$80m.

Edgestone manages a total of C$1.4bn in five separate funds, making it one of the largest mid-market private equity firms in the country.

Swander Pace is reported to have exceeded its original target of $300m and comfortably outstripped its previous fundraising of $220m in 2000. The group makes investments of between $15m and $25m in consumer product companies with up to $250m in revenues.

There are increasing signs that fundraising in both North America and Europe has been gathering pace over the last few months but the total for the year still looks set to fall a long way short of last year.

A lot of institutional investors are experiencing liquidity problems and do not have the capital to make new commitments. Others are simply taking a great deal longer than in the past to finalise investments.

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