NovaQuest Capital has held a final close of NovaQuest Private Equity Fund II LP (NQPE II) at its $500 million hard cap. The new fund had an original target of $425 million and was oversubscribed.
Limited partners in NQPE II include new and returning investors including pension plans, insurance companies, asset managers, private foundations, and family offices. NQPE II was raised in less than seven months of fundraising.
NovaQuest invests in North America-based lower middle market healthcare companies with a specific focus on the tech-enabled life sciences and pharmaceutical services sectors. The firm was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“We are grateful for the support we received from our existing limited partners, as well as strong demand from new investors for NQPE II,” said Michael Sorensen, a partner at NovaQuest. “As a continuation of the strategy we executed in our first fund, NQPE II will focus on investing in innovative companies in attractive thematic sectors and on partnering with talented management teams to build great companies.”
NovaQuest’s earlier fund, NovaQuest Private Equity Fund I LP, closed at its hard cap of $275 million in November 2019. With the closing of NQPE II, the firm now has $1.2 billion of assets under management and has completed 7 platform investments and 11 add-on acquisitions.
Recent investments made by NovaQuest include Azurity Pharmaceuticals, a Massachusetts-based specialty pharmaceutical company focused on cardiovascular, neurology, endocrinology, gastrointestinal, institutional, and orphan markets (March 2018); Clinical Ink, a Pennsylvania-based provider of clinical data collection technologies (April 2018); Catalyst Clinical Research, a North Carolina-based provider of staffing to biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies (October 2018); and Covenant Animal Health, a North Carolina-based developer of animal health products (November 2021).
“We are proud of the team we have built and the strong partnerships we have formed with the management teams of our companies,” added Mr. Sorensen. “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 was the placement agent for NQPE II, and Ropes & Gray provided legal services.
“NovaQuest has built a transformative investment platform that enables lower middle market healthcare companies to pursue strategic growth opportunities and enhance operational capabilities,” said Eric Deyle, a managing director at Eaton Partners.
Rowayton, Connecticut-headquartered Eaton Partners advises and raises institutional capital for investment managers across multiple alternative strategies – private equity, private credit, real assets, real estate, and hedge funds/public market – in both the primary and secondary markets. Since its founding in 1983, Eaton has raised more than $130 billion for more than 175 alternative investment funds. The firm is a subsidiary of Stifel Financial (NYSE: SF) and has offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
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