Audax closes Fund V at $2.25 bln in quick fundraise

Audax Group wrapped up fundraising for its fifth private equity fund with $2.25 billion in commitments, above its target, as the Boston-based buyout shop founded in 1999 continued a brisk pace of deal-making.

Fund V drew in $1 billion more commitments than Fund IV, which wrapped up in 2013.

Audax offered LPs two major options with Fund V: a 1 percent management fee and 30 percent carried interest rate, or the standard 2 and 20, an LP with knowledge of the fund told Buyouts this year.

The firm filed a Form D with the SEC on August 11, with no date of first sale at the time. The filing did not disclose the target or amount raised. Geoffrey Rehnert and Marc Wolpow are listed as executive officers on the fund, the same line-up as Fund IV.

Audax said in October that it paid an undisclosed sum for California Products Corp, a new platform for specialty coatings, by combining it with Nicoat. In September, it announced its 500^th acquisition, with its Advanced Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery platform buying Dermatology of Northern Colorado as an add-on.

Also in September, Audax bought Techniks Industries, a provider of industrial cutting tools.

On the exit front, Audax-backed Quest Construction Products, a unit of Quest Specialty Chemicals Inc, was sold to Building Materials Corporation of America for an undisclosed sum in August.

The vintage 2007 Audax Private Equity Fund III logged a 14.4 percent IRR and a 1.8x return on invested capital as of March 31 for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. That’s close to the 16.1 percent top-quartile threshold for that vintage year, according to an annual review of pension fund data by Buyouts.

CalPERS also holds stakes in Audax Credit Opportunities Fund and the Audax Mezzanine Fund II.

Action item: Audax can be reached here: http://bit.ly/1PwBwKn

Correction: The initial target on Fund V was incorrectly stated at $2 bln. It was $1.75 bln. The report has been updated.