Marlin Equity Partners, a global investment firm, announced the first and final closings of Marlin Equity V, L.P. (Fund V), with $2.5 billion of capital commitments, and Marlin Heritage II, L.P. (Heritage II), with $750 million of capital commitments. Fund V and Heritage II were substantially oversubscribed, closing at their hard caps and surpassing their respective targets of $2.0 billion and $500 million in less than five months. With $3.25 billion raised across both funds, this marks the largest pool of capital raised by the firm since it was established in 2005.
“We are proud to have built a successful global organization that is supported by a top-notch institutional investor base of long-standing existing and new limited partners, and a talented team of professionals with deep domain expertise across our core industries,” said David McGovern, Managing Partner of Marlin. “The successful closings of Fund V and Heritage II allow us to further capitalize on the investment opportunities we are currently seeing in the middle and lower middle markets, and clearly reflect the strength of our differentiated approach to growing and transforming businesses through operational best practices.”
Fund V and Heritage II are a continuation of the same operationally-focused investment strategy that has been a key driver of Marlin’s success for over a decade. Fund V will target investments in middle market companies in North America and Europe, and Heritage II will target investments in lower middle market companies in North America. Consistent with Marlin’s predecessor funds, Fund V and Heritage II will seek to invest in businesses that can benefit from the firm’s flexible capital base, strong industry knowledge within software, technology, healthcare IT, business services and industrial technology, among others, and substantial network of operational resources.
Peter Spasov, Partner of Marlin, added, “We are extremely grateful for the overwhelming support from our limited partners throughout an accelerated and oversubscribed fundraising process. We believe our operationally-focused investment approach gives us the ability to consistently navigate all economic cycles and resonates well among investors amidst a highly competitive market.”
Marlin has closed eight private equity funds since its inception in 2005 and has more than $6.7 billion of capital under management. The closings of Fund V and Heritage II continue the firm’s strong momentum over the past 18 months and follow the recent closing of its first dedicated European fund, Marlin Heritage Europe, L.P., which raised €325 million of commitments last year. Over the same period, Marlin has acquired 16 businesses, including seven corporate divestitures.
Bruce Ettelson, Karin Orsic and Katie St. Peters of Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel and Credit Suisse Securities (USA), LLC acted as an advisor and exclusive placement agent in the formation of Fund V and Heritage II.