It’s official.
Months of speculation and rumor in the private equity and deal community ended last week when Santa Monica-based Clearlake Capital Group announced the closure of its $3.6 billion fund.
It is the firm’s largest fund to date, and the closure comes after a hot 2017 for Clearlake. The company moved several assets, including a $1.3 billion package deal it put together for Syncsort Inc. and Vision Solutions Inc., which it sold in July to New York-based Centerbridge Partners.
Clearlake’s new fund – dubbed Clearlake Capital Partners V – was hard capped at $3.6 billion, the firm said in a statement. The raise exceeded its target and is already invested in Perforce Software, Diligent Corp., Janus International, ProVation Medical and Wheel Pros.
“We are thankful and humbled by the opportunity to prudently invest on behalf of our prominent and expanding base of global Limited Partners,” said José Feliciano, co-founder and managing partner at Clearlake. “We believe that the interest in Fund V is an acknowledgment of Clearlake’s superior track record and strategy. Clearlake brings deep industry knowledge and relationships, access to capital, and a flexible investment mandate to our partner management teams in our target sectors: industrials and energy, software and technology-enabled services, and consumer.”
The new fund received commitments from more than 150 institutional investors from more than 25 countries. Investors came from both the public and private sectors. The closing of the fund brings Clearlake’s overall capital commitments to $7 billion.
“We are grateful that investors appreciate the strength of the Clearlake franchise in positively transforming businesses,” said Behdad Eghbali, Clearlake’s co-founder and managing partner. “We believe Clearlake has the investment and operational skills to execute its strategy and generate superior returns at this scale.”
Credit Suisse Securities acted as advisor and placement agent for Fund V, receiving more than $4 million for its services, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett served as legal counsel.
Honoré Adds Investors
11 Honoré, a West Hollywood-based ecommerce retailer that sells designer clothing for women sizes 10 to 24, raised $8 million in Series A funds, the company announced March 19.
The funding round was led by Redpoint Ventures and included commitments from Forerunner Ventures, Upfront Ventures, Greycroft and Canvas Ventures.
Medha Agarwal, a Redpoint principal who joined the 11 Honoré board as part of the deal, said that the company had seen strong demand from consumers as well as designers since being founded August last year.
“By democratizing fashion for all sizes and partnering with some of the most coveted fashion brands, 11 Honoré is seeing remarkable demand from both consumers and designers,” Agarwal said in a statement. “The company has found the right model to engage with the massively underserved plus-size market, which is over $21 (billion) and growing twice as fast as the overall apparel market.”
Company co-founders Patrick Herning, who is also chief executive, and Kathryn Retzer, who serves as the creative director, said the company was at the forefront of an industry-wide transition period.
“The fashion industry is slowly waking up to a customer that has long been ignored, and through our investment in (the fit of garments) with our brand partners, 11 Honoré is leading the way, ensuring designers maintain the integrity and quality of a garment,” Herning said in a statement. “This allows us to bring our customers luxury designs that were previously unavailable to her.”
The $8 million cash infusions gives 11 Honoré $11.5 million in total funding, the firm said.
Rainy Day Deal
Entertainment Partners couldn’t have picked a more appropriate moment.
The Burbank-based independent film and television distributor announced its acquisition of Weather Group – parent company of The Weather Channel – on one of the wettest days of the year, with storms threatening to wash out portions of Southern California’s fire-scarred landscape.
Entertainment Partners Chairman and Chief Executive Byron Allen said in a statement that the move was part of a five-year strategic initiative.
“The Weather Channel is one of the most trusted and extremely important cable networks, with information vitally important to the safety and protection of our lives,” Allen said. “The acquisition of The Weather Channel is strategic, as we begin our process of investing billions of dollars over the next five years to acquire some of the best media assets around the world.”
Have a deal tip? Henry Meier can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 556-8321.
