Arlington Capital Partners has held a hard cap close of its latest fund, Arlington Capital Partners VI LP, with $3.8 billion of capital. The new fund beat its $3.25 billion target, was significantly oversubscribed, and is the largest fund the firm has ever raised.
“The success of this fundraise is a testament to our team’s unrivaled domain expertise, collaborative approach, and consistent track record across our target sectors, which are poised for substantial growth over the next decade-plus,” said Arlington Capital in a released statement. “We are tremendously grateful to our investors, and we look forward to putting this capital to work as a partner of choice for founders and management teams, helping to build their businesses into market leaders and sought-after strategic assets.”
To date, Fund VI has completed eight platform investments and ten follow-on acquisitions. Most recently, Arlington acquired Afton Scientific, a Virginia-based contract, development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) that provides pre-clinical through commercial-scale sterile manufacturing of injectable pharmaceuticals and pre-sterilized vials and kits.
Afton was founded by CEO Tom Thorpe who will continue to lead the company and remain a material shareholder in partnership with Arlington.
“The demand for biologics is as robust as ever, contributing to a continued imbalance in supply and demand for aseptic CDMO services,” said Malcolm Little, a partner at Arlington. “Afton’s exemplary quality record and 30+ year history in manufacturing high value pharmaceuticals and biologics, combined with Arlington’s experience scaling pharmaceutical services businesses, provides a strong platform from which to further grow and address this market need.”
Last week, Arlington announced the launch of Keel Holdings, a manufacturer of complex structures used in defense applications. Keel was formed through the merger of existing Arlington portfolio company Pegasus Steel, acquired in June 2023, with the newly completed acquisitions of Metal Trades and Merrill Technologies Group.
The launch of Keel follows Arlington’s formation in January of two other defense platforms, Kinetic Engine Systems and Verus Aerospace. Kinetic includes Cadence Aerospace which Arlington acquired from Court Square in 2017 and three new acquisitions; Arizona-based Walbar Engine Components, Connecticut-based Numet Machining Techniques, and Connecticut-based AeroCision. Verus is a supplier of large and complex aerostructures components and is comprised of existing Arlington portfolio companies Perfekta, Precision Machine Works, Arden Engineering, Premier Processing, and Quality Forming.
Bethesda, Maryland-based Arlington Capital invests in government-regulated industries and adjacent markets including aerospace and defense; government services; and technology, healthcare, and business services. Arlington is led by its managing partners, Matt Altman, Michael Lustbader, Peter Manos, and David Wodlinger. In February 2021, Goldman Sachs Asset Management made a non-voting minority equity investment in the firm.
Evercore was Arlington’s placement agent for Fund VI and Kirkland & Ellis provided legal services.
© 2024 Private Equity Professional | February 6, 2024
