Following a short three-month fundraising process, May River Capital has held a final on-target closing of its second fund, May River Capital Fund II LP, with $300 million of limited partner capital commitments. The demand for the new fund substantially exceeded its target size.
Limited partners in the new fund include university endowments, insurance companies, charitable foundations, fund-of-funds, family offices and high-net-worth individuals.
“We are thankful for the strong support of our investors and are excited to continue our strategy of investing in high-caliber, lower middle-market, industrial growth businesses,” said Chip Grace, a partner at May River.
May River’s founding partners, Chip Grace, Steve Griesemer and Dan Barlow, along with the firm’s Executive Resource Group, made significant capital commitments to the new fund. The Executive Resource Group is a collection of nine experienced senior executives who work with the investment team at May River to evaluate industry trends, specific businesses, talent management, and growth strategies for the firm’s portfolio companies.
“We are pleased with the reception we received from such a well-respected group of new and existing institutional investors and look forward to continuing those relationships,” said Steve Griesemer, a partner at May River.
The new fund will continue May River’s focus on investing from $15 million to $40 million of equity in companies with enterprise values of $15 million to $75 million. Sectors of interest include precision manufacturing, engineered products, specialized industrial services, and value-added industrial distribution services.
May River was founded in February 2012 and closed its inaugural fund, May River Fund I LP, in March 2017 with total commitments of $170 million. Since founding, May River has closed and managed seven investment platforms as well as ten add-on acquisitions.
In August 2019, the firm closed the sale of two platform companies: GCM, a maker of metal, ceramic and plastic components, was sold to Avista Capital Partners (May River acquired GCM – then Hi-Tech Manufacturing – in July 2012 from Longview Capital Partners); and Pride Engineering, a maker of tooling, equipment, and aftermarket parts used in the aluminum beverage packaging sector, to Arcline Investment Management (May River acquired Pride Engineering in March 2014).
“We are fortunate to have a skillful and dedicated team behind us and look forward to partnering with talented executives throughout Fund II,” said Dan Barlow, a partner at May River.
White Plains, New York-based M2O Private Fund Advisors was the placement agent for this fundraise and Winston & Strawn provided legal services.
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | December 10, 2019
