GoldPoint raises $699 mln for fourth mezzanine fund

GoldPoint Partners disclosed $699 million in commitments for Goldpoint Mezzanine Partners IV, after the firm hired two key executives and wrapped up a co-investment fund last year.

The effort by GoldPoint comes during a thin year for mezzanine fundraising. All told, $215 million in fresh capital has been disclosed for mezzanine funds in 2016, not including the total for GoldPoint.

The fundraising tally could move up considerably, however, with Blackstone Group now in the market for GSO Capital Opportunities Fund III, which is targeting $6 billion, Buyouts reported. See story.

In 2015, mezzanine funds drew in $13.5 billion, according to data compiled by Buyouts.

New York-based GoldPoint disclosed a date of first sale of August 31, 2015, for Fund IV, which drew in commitments from 28 LPs, according to a March 29 filing.

The firm added nearly $200 million and 12 LPs to the fund since an October 30 filing for Goldpoint Mezzanine Partners IV.

GoldPoint typically invests $20 million to $50 million in mezzanine debt, including cash pay subordinated debt and associated equity securities of warrants along with middle-market buyouts from “top performing sponsors,” according to its website.

It invests in mezzanine debt across “nearly all industry sectors” with the ability to underwrite deals of more than $50 million, the firm said.

As of February, the firm had committed about $12.4 billion to more than 300 U.S. and European private-equity funds. It’s also completed about 159 equity co-investments and 119 mezzanine investments alongside these sponsors.

GoldPoint raised its first dedicated mezzanine fund in 2002 and manages four funds with $2.3 billion of committed capital as of February, the firm said. The firm drew in $980 million for Goldpoint Capital Partners Mezzanine III in 2010, according to Bison.

In January 2015, the firm closed its fifth equity co-investment fund with $675 million in commitments, a 50 percent increase from its predecessor.

The firm did not return a phone call from Buyouts.

Among personnel moves at the firm, it hired two outsiders for leading positions last year.

In September the firm named Scott Higbee as senior managing principal, head of business development. He previously headed the New York office of Partners Group.

Last June, GoldPoint named Sean Gelb chief financial officer. He previously worked at Blackstone as senior vice president of the Tactical Opportunity unit.

The firm’s former chief investment officer, Steve Benevento, died in 2014 in a traffic accident.

The New York firm operates as an independent investment boutique owned by New York Life, one of its founding investors and largest LPs. The firm formed as a separate unit of New York Life in 1999 when it was raising third-party capital.

In 2012, it renamed itself GoldPoint, a reference to the iconic gold pyramid atop the New York Life headquarters. It had been called New York Life Capital Partners.

Action Item: GoldPoint Partners, http://www.goldpointpartners.com/contact

Photo © Davel5957/iStock