Boston, MA -- February 27, 2009 -- Great Hill Partners ("GHP") today announced the final closing of the firm's fourth investment fund, Great Hill Equity Partners IV, L.P., with total commitments of $1.1 billion. This latest fund brings the firm’s total capital under management to $2.7 billion. Great Hill Partners invests in growth companies operating in a wide variety of business and consumer services industries.
Great Hill Partners’ fourth fund received strong support from the firm’s core investors. "We appreciate the support and loyalty our investors have shown with their commitments to Fund IV,” said Christopher Gaffney, Managing Partner at Great Hill. “Our ability to close over target in the current environment reflects well on investor confidence in our middle market investment strategy.” Nearly all of the investors from GHP’s $750 million third fund participated in Fund IV, including JP Morgan Investment Management, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System, Virginia Retirement System, UniSuper of Australia, Liberty Mutual, The Commonfund, Government of Singapore and Yale University. These limited partners were joined by a number of new investors including Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, the National Football League, Lumina Foundation, Michigan State University, Washington State University, Lebanese American University, Syracuse University, Sutter Health, University of Alabama and Case Western Reserve University. The firm did not use a placement agent to raise the fund.
The firm recently completed the investment phase for Fund III and posted solid portfolio company performance in 2008. Commenting on GHP’s strategy in a difficult economic environment, Managing Partner John Hayes said, “We were careful in 2008, only making two new investments, and both companies exceeded plan for the year. The portfolio grew nicely in 2008 with aggregate portfolio revenue growth of 10% and EBITDA growth of 12%.”
In 2008, GHP completed the going private purchase of CAM Commerce, an integrated payments processor, based in Henderson, NV. Also, Great Hill co-led the recapitalization of Passport Health Communications, a healthcare IT company, based in Nashville. Latisys Corp., a national data center business, received additional capital from GHP as the business completed a follow-on acquisition in September.
“Great Hill Partner’s strategy of selecting higher growth, lower leverage situations has put our portfolio in a good position to weather this economic downturn,” stated Managing Partner Matt Vettel. He added, “We are pleased to have raised a significant pool of capital in what is likely to be an attractive entry point in the economic cycle.”
About Great Hill Partners
Great Hill Partners, located in Boston, MA, provides equity capital to growing businesses in its targeted industry sectors. The firm invests in a wide variety of transaction types, including buyouts, recapitalizations, consolidations, growth equity, and going private transactions. The firm targets companies with an enterprise value of $100 - $500 million. For more information, please visit our website at www.greathillpartners.com or contact Christopher S. Gaffney, Managing Partner at 617-790-9420, John G. Hayes, Managing Partner at 617-790-9418 or Matthew T. Vettel, Managing Partner at 617-790-9432.
