Olympus plans late ’17 fundraise after Fund VI posts strong IRR

  • Fund VI’s 35 pct net IRR driven by Innovative XCessories
  • LPs have been asking GP about Fund VII
  • Firm raised $2.3B in 2013 for Olympus Growth Fund VI

 

With strong performance numbers thus far for its 2013 fund, Olympus Partners told inquiring LPs it’s getting ready to launch fundraising efforts around its seventh pool in late 2017, with no specific target yet, a document seen by Buyouts shows.

“Several of you have called to ask about Fund VII,” said a Nov. 17 letter to LPs signed by Robert Morris, founder and managing partner of Olympus. “We do not yet have specific timing, but second half 2017 is the likely period at current investment rates.”

A spokesman for the Stamford, Connecticut, firm declined comment.

Olympus raised $2.3 billion in 2013 for Olympus Growth Fund VI. That pool generated a net IRR of 35.3 percent as of Sept. 30, the firm said.

Olympus listed seven portfolios in the fund: Amspec Holdings, Ennis-Flint, Innovative XCessories & Services, G.E.T. Enterprises, Liqui-Box, Lyft (minority stake) and PSAV.

One of the standouts appears to be Innovative, a specialist in protective coatings for pickup-truck beds. The company grew to more than $100 million in EBITDA in the past 12 months, just two years after posting $38 million, the letter said. The letter said it planned to issue a $140 million dividend in early December through a debt offering for IXS.

The net proceeds of the latest dividend plus an earlier one will amount to roughly 2.5x Olympus’s investment while it retains its original equity. The letter said Olympus expected IXS’s EBITDA to grow by another $10 million in 2017.

With Lyft, the firm said in the letter that the Uber competitor continues to see record ridership levels in excess of plan.

Olympus was also exploring an offer from a potential buyer to acquire one-third of PSAV in a private transaction. The potential buyer wasn’t disclosed. Olympus in 2014 teamed with Goldman Sachs to buy PSAV, an event-technology and audio-visual company. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Olympus Partners has had at least one top-quartile fund under its belt.

The firm has appeared on Preqin’s list of the most consistent top PE performers. The vintage 2007 Olympus Growth Fund V generated an IRR of 19 percent as of June 30, 2015, for Regents of the University of California. The top-quartile threshold for that vintage year is 16.2 percent, according to public-pension-fund data compiled by Buyouts.

Action Item: Contact Olympus Partners, http://www.olympuspartners.com/contact

A priestess dances as she participates in a rare ceremony honoring Zeus, the king of the ancient Greek gods, along with hundreds of worshippers of the 12 Ancient Greek Gods of mount Olympus at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens on Jan. 21, 2007. Photo courtesy Reuters/Yannis Behrakis