Avista Capital Partners has held a final, oversubscribed and hard cap close of Avista Capital Partners V LP and Avista Capital Partners (Offshore) V LP (together Fund V) with total committed capital of $1.2 billion.
Limited partners in the new fund include public pension funds, university endowments and foundations, family offices, insurance companies and asset managers across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Fund V was backed by widespread support from Avista’s Fund IV limited partners including Capital Constellation, which made a minority equity investment in Avista in December 2020. Capital Constellation was formed in 2018 to invest up to $1.5 billion over five years in next-generation private equity and alternatives managers and is a joint venture of five sovereign wealth funds including the Kuwait Investment Authority; Public Institution for Social Security of Kuwait; Alaska Permanent Fund; AP Funds (Sweden); and RPMI Railpen (United Kingdom). The Wafra Group, which is owned by the Public Institution for Social Security of Kuwait, is the investment manager of Capital Constellation.
“We are very pleased with the reception of Fund V and are grateful for the support of our returning and new limited partners,” said Thompson Dean and David Burgstahler, managing partners and co-CEOs of Avista, in a released statement. “The strong closing of the Fund V is an endorsement of our investment strategy, underpinned by many years of dedicated healthcare experience, the strength of our investment team, strong alignment of interest with our investors and Avista’s ability to generate consistent returns. The rising global demand for healthcare products and services will continue to present a host of compelling investment opportunities where our sector expertise can drive value creation and generate strong outcomes for our investors.”
New York City-based Avista makes control or influential minority investments in growth-oriented healthcare businesses with a specific interest in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, outsourced pharmaceutical services, distribution, and consumer-driven healthcare.
In January 2021, Avista closed on its buy of Solmetex, a maker of amalgam separators that remove mercury – created from the removal of amalgam fillings – from dental wastewater. Amalgam fillings contain a mixture of metals, consisting of liquid mercury and a powdered alloy composed of silver, tin, and copper. Approximately half of a dental amalgam is mercury by weight.
Prior to 2017, dental offices typically disposed of amalgam waste down the drain with the wastewater then processed by sewage treatment plants which in many cases were not designed to treat or recycle mercury or other heavy metals. Dental amalgam is the largest source of mercury received by US treatment plants. In 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency put in place regulations that required dental practices to incorporate amalgam separators in their drainage systems. Solmetex is headquartered near Boston in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
Avista was founded in 2005 through a spin-out from DLJ Merchant Banking Partners. Since its founding, the firm has invested more than $6 billion in over 30 healthcare companies and completed more than 40 add-on acquisitions.
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | March 4, 2021