Clearlake Capital Group attracted $14.1 billion for its seventh flagship private equity fund, far exceeding its initial target of $10 billion.
With 300 institutional investors representing six continents and over 40 countries, Fund VII received strong support from existing longtime investors as well as prominent new investors, with approximately half of these new investors based in the U.S. and the remainder representing Asia, Middle East, Europe, and North and South America, officials reported.
Clearlake Capital Partners VII attracted commitments from: CPP Investments ($200 million); New York State Teachers’ Retirement System ($300 million); Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System ($100 million); Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds ($125 million); Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund ($100 million); Minnesota State Board of Investment ($100 million); State of Wisconsin Investment Board ($300 million); Teachers’ Retirement System of Texas ($200 million); New Mexico State Investment Council ($50 million); Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System ($100 million) and Oregon Investment Council ($250 million).
Fund VII is double in size of Clearlake’s predecessor flagship fund, which closed in early 2020 and is fully deployed. Since January 2021, Clearlake has raised more than $25 billion in assets, which includes nearly $7 billion in four continuation funds.
As of December 31, 2021, Fund VII’s two predecessor funds reported large gains. Clearlake Capital Partners V generated a gross IRR of 65.1% (57.7% net), with a gross multiple of 3.9x (3.2x net), and Clearlake Capital Partners VI generated a gross IRR of 86.9% (78.8% net), with a gross multiple of 1.8x (1.6x net).
“We are very proud of the results generated by our funds in the context of a volatile macroeconomic backdrop in the past few years while experiencing significant growth and maintaining our focus on the fundamentals of our investment approach,” said José E. Feliciano, co-founder and managing partner at the $72 billion Clearlake. “We believe that our flexible investment strategy incorporating buyouts, corporate carveouts, and special situations is positioned to take advantage of the evolving and potentially unstable market conditions that we are likely to encounter in the investment period of Fund VII.”
The latest in the firm’s technology, industrials and consumer industries strategic flagship series has already announced platform investments that include Cornerstone OnDemand, Concert Golf, Discovery Education, Intertape Polymer Group, Kofax, Mold-Rite Packaging, Quest Software and Springs Window Fashions. Realizations across the Clearlake platform in 2021 include American Construction Source, Appriss, DigiCert, Ivanti, NetDocuments, Janus International, Precisely, Provation, symplr, Wheel Pros and investments under Clearlake’s Better For You platform.
“We remain focused on investing in companies at attractive price points that can benefit from our buy-and-build and organic growth strategies that best position our companies and our investors for long-term success,” said Behdad Eghbali, co-founder and managing partner at Clearlake.
Credit Suisse Private Fund Group acted as the primary placement agent for Fund VII, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal adviser for the Fund.
