Align Capital Partners has closed its third fund, Align Capital Partners Fund III LP (ACP III), with $620 million of capital commitments. Align began fundraising in September 2022, and the new fund had an initial target of $550 million. With the closing of ACP III, Align has now raised approximately $1.4 billion since the firm’s founding in 2016.
Align Capital Partners makes control investments in North American-based companies that have up to $15 million of EBITDA and enterprise values of up to $150 million. Sectors of interest include business services, technology, specialty manufacturing, and distribution. Over the past six years, ACP has invested in 18 platform companies, completed over 60 add-on acquisitions and exited six investments.
“As we wade through this period of economic uncertainty, we’re fortunate to have the committed capital to continue our disciplined approach to helping companies grow,” said co-founder and managing partner Chris Jones. “The ACP team is collectively one of the largest investors in ACP III, creating significant economic and strategic alignment between our team, our investors and our management partners. We look forward to strategically deploying this capital with the goal of delivering results for the aligned benefit of all our stakeholders.”
In August 2022, ACP closed the sale of WilliamsMarston to Kelso & Company. Boston-headquartered WilliamsMarston provides consulting services to public, private equity-backed, and pre-IPO companies to support mergers, acquisitions, carveouts, spin-offs, initial public offerings, and restructurings.
ACP acquired WilliamsMarston in July 2020 and during its quick two-year hold it closed six add-on acquisitions including Massachusetts-based BA Major Associates (November 2020), California-based Chord Advisors (August 2021), California-based Bay Valuation Advisors (December 2021), California-based Moffett & Associates (May 2022), Arizona-based Oracle Capital (July 2022), and Atlanta-based Paradigm Advisory Group (August 2022).
“The firm’s growth and success to date is attributed to the partnerships formed between our portfolio companies and our dedicated team of professionals,” said co-founder and managing partner Steve Dyke. “We’re excited to leverage these collective experiences to help grow the next wave of ACP platform companies.”
ACP’s first fund (ACP I) closed in September 2016 with $325 million in commitments and ACP II closed in February 2020 at its hard cap of $450 million. Since the closing of ACP II, the firm has added 11 people to its team. In February 2022, ACP named two new partners with the promotions of Jack Parks and Matt Beesley and added Jeremy Wolf to the firm’s business development team as a vice president.
“We are very grateful for the continued support from our investors and the hard work of our growing team at ACP,” said Rob Langley, a co-founder and managing partner at ACP. “On the heels of our successful exits over the past 18 months, we remain energized by the partnership opportunities and growth potential that exists in the lower-middle market. We have managed our fund size growth to remain fully committed to that segment of the private equity market.”
Capstone Partners was the placement agent for ACP III and Kirkland & Ellis provided legal services.
© 2022 Private Equity Professional | November 4, 2022
