Babson Capital Management has held a final and above target close of Gateway Mezzanine Partners II, LP with $177 million in commitments from investors. The original target for the new fund was $155 million.
Gateway Mezzanine Partners II is managed by Babson’s Sydney- and Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific investment teams. The fund’s mezzanine debt strategy is focused on private equity-sponsored transactions involving middle-market companies in the Asia Pacific countries of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong.
“Babson is pleased with the extremely positive reception to Gateway Mezzanine Partners II, which exceeded our fundraising target and includes commitments from investors in Gateway Mezzanine Partners I, existing investors in other Babson products and new clients,” said Eric Lloyd, Head of Global Private Finance for Babson.
Babson has been investing in the mezzanine space for more than 20 years and Gateway Mezzanine Partners I – raised in 2013 – was a top-quartile performer against funds of similar vintage and public indices. The Asia Pacific Private Credit Group, which is responsible for investing the Gateway funds, is led by Adam Wheeler in Sydney and Shane Forster in Hong Kong.
Gateway Mezzanine Partners II has already committed about $32 million in five platform companies, one of which has been fully realized.
Babson Capital has $217 billion in assets under management and is a member of the MassMutual Financial Group. The firm has offices in Boston and Springfield, MA; New York, Chicago, Charlotte and Los Angeles, and nine other offices in Europe, Asia and Australia (www.BabsonCapital.com).
2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-11-15
