Los Angeles-based private equity firm LightBay Capital closed its second fund with capital commitments of $1.04 billion.
Investors in the new fund include the New York State Common Retirement Fund, Florida State Board of Administration, Texas Municipal Retirement System, and State of Wisconsin Investment Board.
LightBay Investment Partners II and its related vehicles will invest in high quality service-based middle market companies after exceeding the firm’s $800 million asset raising target. The team partners with management across sectors such as tech-enabled services, outsourced business-to-business services, healthcare services, HCIT and consumer services.
“LightBay Fund II will leverage our team’s deep domain expertise and thematic approach to identifying, partnering with, and accelerating the growth of market-leading companies,” said Nav Rahemtulla, LightBay partner and co-founder. “A fixed portion of LightBay’s fees and carried interest is contributed to The LightBay Foundation and the closing of LightBay Fund II enables to us to deepen our impact on and support of local mission-driven organizations.”
The LightBay Foundation is centered on three core missions — improving access to high-quality education, advancing and expanding access to healthcare, and addressing basic needs and skills training for underserved families.
LightBay, founded by Rahemtulla and Adam Stein after having been partners at Ares Management, has partnered with 11 companies and has successfully completed more than 140 add-on acquisitions since 2016. The firm’s AUM is now just over $2 billion.
“Today marks a significant milestone for LightBay,” added Stein. “We are proud of the continued growth of the Firm — this successful fundraising effort is a strong endorsement of the outstanding team we have built over the last six years. LightBay remains committed to investing in our people and culture and we believe that this dedication to our core values and differentiated strategy will benefit us, our investors, our partner companies, and our communities for years to come.”
To date, LightBay has made two investments out of LightBay Fund II through the acquisitions of Clarion Home Services Group and Infinity Home Services. Clarion, Infinity, and LightBay’s other partner companies actively work with LightBay’s Growth Operations Team, a group of tenured executives who draw on their extensive expertise in business intelligence, data analytics, digital transformation, human capital, technology, and mergers and acquisitions to help advance each company through their respective accelerated growth plans.
UBS Investment Bank’s Private Funds Group acted as advisor and exclusive placement agent for LightBay. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to LightBay.