Kelso Closes Fund XI

Middle market investor Kelso & Company has held an above target close of Kelso Investment Associates XI LP with capital commitments of $3.25 billion. Included in Fund XI’s capital is participation by Kelso partners and employees of more than $400 million.

Limited partners in Fund XI include public and corporate pensions, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, consultants, financial institutions, and family offices.

“We appreciate the continued commitment of our existing limited partners, with a re-up rate of 95% from the prior fund and several investing with us for more than 30 years,” said Lynn Alexander, a partner and the head of investor relations and fundraising at Kelso. “We are also pleased to have added a meaningful number of new investors.”

“We are deeply grateful for the support from investors, as well as for the work by our employees and management team partners who contribute to delivering our consistent performance,” said Chris Collins and Frank Loverro, Co-CEOs of Kelso in a released statement. “We are excited to deploy Fund XI utilizing our disciplined strategy of investing in strong middle market businesses where we see opportunities to accelerate growth.”

Kelso’s newest fund has already completed investments in four companies including Valenz, an Arizona-based provider of healthcare related payment and cost containment services to small and mid-sized companies (June 2023); Pathstone, an independent wealth management firm tailored to ultra-high net worth clients (May 2023); WilliamsMarston, a Massachusetts-based provider of non-audit accounting advisory, tax, valuation, and other managed services (August 2022); and Inovar Packaging Group, a Texas-based provider of pressure sensitive labels and shrink sleeves (May 2022).

New York City-based Kelso & Company is one of the oldest and most established firms specializing in middle-market private equity investing. Since 1980, Kelso has invested over $19 billion of equity capital in more than 140 transactions.

Debevoise & Plimpton provided legal services to Kelso to support the fundraise and formation of Fund XI.

© 2023 Private Equity Professional | October 3, 2023