Middle market private investment firm Charlesbank Capital made a strategic investment in Petra Funds Group, a fund administrator serving private equity and private debt companies.
Petra launched only two years ago and today has $110 billion under administration via a technology-driven approach to providing middle- and back-office solutions. The Petra founders and management team will remain significant shareholders alongside Charlesbank, according to a news release.
“As fund managers ourselves, we see every day the importance of strong fund administration execution, and we found Petra’s exceptional service quality and capabilities to be truly distinguished as we assessed their offering as prospective clients,” said Michael Choe, managing director and CEO at Charlesbank.
Petra is led by Co-Founders and Managing Partners Stephen Coats and Peter Haskopoulos, together with Managing Partners John Collins and Paul Winters, along with a team of over 110 employees across five offices in the U.S. and Europe.
Having grown organically, Petra will use the investment capital to accelerate its growth strategy, recruit and retain top industry talent, and scale its suite of services across the entire fund services value chain, including fund launch advisory; recurring fund accounting, reconciliation, and reporting; management company and GP services; and adjacent compliance and ESG services.
Back in February, Adam Weiss joined Petra Funds Group as COO, following a role overseeing credit operations at Riverstone Holdings.
Charlesbank Managing Director David Katz added that his firm is eager to help Petra scale to the “next level” via the private equity firm’s experience in partnering with business services companies and the synergies across Charlesbank’s portfolio.
The transaction, which was announced late last week, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. PL Advisors served as financial advisor to Petra on the transaction. Latham & Watkins provided legal counsel to Petra, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett provided legal counsel to Charlesbank.
