Firms & Funds

Ex-GSO exec White targets $600 mln for debut pool

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Dunes Point Capital, private equity, Tim White
A biker competes during the 11th stage of the fourth South American edition of the Dakar Rally 2012 from Arica to Arequipa Jan. 12, 2012. REUTERS/ Philippe Desmazes
  • Dunes Point debut pool capped at $800 mln
  • GP to commit at least 4 pct of target
  • Tim White formerly worked at GSO

Dunes Point Capital, launched by former GSO Capital executive Tim White, is targeting $600 million for its debut institutional fund, according to sources and an investment memo from Texas Municipal Retirement System.

Buyouts exclusively revealed earlier this year that Dunes Point was talking to LPs about launching its first institutional fund, with a potential $650 million target. Dunes Point Capital Fund II is now officially in the market, targeting $600 million with an $800 million cap, according to the Texas municipal investment memo. (It’s not clear why the debut fund is called Fund II.)

White launched Rye, New York-based Dunes Point in 2013. The firm invested deal-by-deal since its inception, generating pre-fund performance of 2.1x multiple and 51 percent net internal rate of return, the investment memo shows.

The memo makes clear, however, that the pre-fund track record is “light on realizations, but financial and operating performance is quite strong.”

The GP will contribute at least 4 percent of the fund’s target, the memo said.

White joined GSO in 2005. Blackstone Group acquired GSO in 2008. White previously was a managing director at Audax Group and a principal at DLJ Merchant Banking Partners.

At GSO, White had the unusual role of running a PE investing operation using a small allocation out of the larger mezzanine fund. LPs in GSO’s second pool didn’t want the PE exposure and that allocation wasn’t included in Fund II.

James Baker, former principal in the PE group at Investcorp, joined Dunes Point as a managing director last year. Jordan Benyas, a principal who joined in 2013, formerly worked at Lincoln International.

Dunes Point’s operating-partners group includes Paul Cox, former president of John Crane; Stuart Jara, formerly of Taylor Wharton, Linde and BOC; and Bill Rosenberg, who held senior positions at Emerson Electric and Diebold, Dunes Point’s website says.

Action Item: Here is the Texas Municipal investment memo: http://bit.ly/2g4plr9

A biker competes during the 11th stage of the fourth South American edition of the Dakar Rally 2012 from Arica to Arequipa on Jan. 12, 2012. Photo courtesy Reuters/Philippe Desmazes