Emerging Manager Zooms Past $300M Target

Boston-based emerging manager WestView Capital Partners has hit its hard cap of $325 million for a second fund earmarked in part for services companies, handily surpassing its $300 million target after little more than a year of fundraising.

WestView Capital began pitching the fund, WestView Capital Partners II, last fall, with Probitas Partners serving as its placement agent. The Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board committed $25 million, and fund-of-funds manager Twin Bridge Capital Partners recently pledged $10 million to the effort.

Managing Partners Carlo von Schroeter, formerly of Weston Presidio, and Richard Williams, formerly of Tudor Investment Corp.’s private equity group, founded WestView Capital in 2004. The firm has eight investment professionals. Its first vehicle, a $195 million fund, closed in 2005.

WestView Capital invests only in lower-mid-market U.S. companies, working with existing management teams to sponsor minority and majority investments. Industries of interest include business services, health care services, IT services, industrial, distribution, logistics, media, publishing and financial services. The group invests $5 million to $25 million in companies generating operating profits of $3 million to $15 million. The firm can participate in larger deals via co-investments from limited partners or other co-investors.

In August, WestView Capital exited its portfolio company, Radiac Abrasives, selling the manufacturer of industrial and automotive abrasives to an Austria-based manufacturer of conventional bonded and superabrasive products after a three-year hold. Terms of that transaction were not disclosed.

In July, WestView Capital invested in RuffaloCODY, a provider of strategic fundraising and enrollment management solutions and software for nonprofit organizations.