Warren Equity Partners has closed its third fund, Warren Equity Partners Fund III LP, with $673 million of capital. The new fund, and its sidecar fund (together Fund III), were oversubscribed, above target, and closed at its hard cap after just two months of fundraising.
Limited partners in Fund III include both new and returning investors including university endowments, pension funds, fund of funds, private foundations, and family offices.
“We are grateful for the support we received from our existing limited partners, as well as strong demand from new investors for Fund III,” said Steven Wacaster, a co-founder and managing partner of Warren Equity. “As a continuation of the strategy we executed in prior funds, Fund III will focus on investing in companies providing critical infrastructure solutions and partnering with talented management teams to build great companies.”
Warren Equity invests from $5 million to $40 million in North American-based companies that have from $3 million to $15 million of EBITDA and total enterprise value of less than $150 million. Sectors of interest include industrial, infrastructure, and business services. The firm was founded in mid-2015 by Mr. Wacaster, Scott Bruckmann, and Henrik Dahlback and is headquartered in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
Warren Equity has already closed on two Fund III platforms with the buys of Magnolia River, an Alabama-based provider of inspection and engineering services to utilities and pipelines (April 2021); and ADB Companies, a Missouri-based provider of services to install, maintain, and operate telecommunication and energy infrastructure (April 2021).
“We are proud of the team we have built at the firm and the strong partnerships we have formed with the management teams of our companies,” said Mr. Bruckmann. “We will continue to develop and deploy our unique operating system to drive value for our investors and the employees of our portfolio companies.”
Eaton Partners and Aqueduct Capital were the placement agents for Fund III and Kirkland & Ellis provided legal services.
“Warren Equity has a unique investment thesis focused on businesses that provide mission-critical infrastructure solutions,” said Eric Deyle, a managing director at Eaton Partners. “Warren is a differentiated private equity firm with a fully integrated operating system and a collaborative, team-oriented culture. We value our longstanding partnership with Steven, Scott, and Henrik, and it was a pleasure working with the entire team on another successful fundraise.”
Over the past three years, Connecticut-based Eaton has successfully closed over 42 funds, totaling over $22 billion in capital commitments including 16 repeat clients.
Warren Equity’s earlier fund closed in December 2018 at its hard cap of $310 million.
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | May 6, 2021
