Sun Capital Collects $1 Bln for Fund VI So Far

Today, we have an update on Sun Capital Partners.

The Boca Raton, Fla.-based PE firm is currently out fundraising for its sixth pool, which has a $3 billion target. Sun Capital held a first close in December and has so far collected $1 billion for fund VI, peHUB has learned.

Sun had hoped to wrap up most of the fundraising in December. That’s changed. Sun expects to hold a second close by the end of first quarter, I’m told. It’s unclear when the PE firm expects to wrap up fundraising. Marketing is just taking longer for all types of funds, even the best performing ones, I’m told.

The extended fundraise could be Sun’s own fault, one placement agent says. The buyout shop conservatively dropped the target for Fund VI to $3 billion, but Sun may have been “too aggressive” in estimating how much time it would take to raise its sxith fund. “[Sun is] now having difficulty living up to their self-set expectation,” the source says.

Sun distributed gross proceeds of $789 million to LPs in 2012, I’m told. That’s from seven exits, a secondary offering involving off-price retailer Goldman’s and some dividends, peHUB has learned. Sun also made about 30 acquisitions in 2012, almost evenly split between new platforms and add-on deals. In January, Albea, which is backed by Sun European Partners, acquired Rexam Personal Care, Cosmetics division. Trulite, another Sun affiliate, said it bought Western States Glass.

At $3 billion, Sun’s sixth pool is half of what it raised with its prior fund. In 2007, Sun Capital collected $6 billion for its fifth fund. Sun Capital Partners V LP, after suffering some early losses, was reduced to $5 billion to accommodate LPs.

Sun’s extended fundraising wasn’t unexpected. The financial downturn caused some major bumps for the firm’s fifth fund; bankruptcies include Friendly’s, Pace American and Mark IV Industries. (Pace and Mark IV are Fund V investments, while Friendly’s came from both Fund IV and Fund V.) Sun retained control of Friendly’s after the company emerged from bankruptcy last year.

There’s also been some “screaming homeruns” for Sun’s fifth pool. This includes the sale of Timothy’s Coffee to Green Mountain in 2009. Sun made 5.25x its money, peHUB has reported. Early in 2012, Sun sold Raybestos Powertrain to Monomoy Capital; the buyout shop made a 110x return on its investment, peHUB has reported.

Officials for Sun declined comment.

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