NEW YORK, September 23, 2003 - Castle Harlan, Inc., the New York merchant bank, announced today it has completed raising its fourth private-equity investment fund, Castle Harlan Partners IV, with capital commitments of $1.163 billion.
The new fund is substantially larger than Castle Harlan Partners III, which closed in early 1997 with commitments of $632 million. That fund is fully committed.
Justin Wender, the Castle Harlan managing director who led the fund-raising effort, said he was "gratified that we have significantly broadened our base of limited partners, despite the difficult fund-raising environment."
"It is clear," he said, "that our limited partners recognized the superior performance of earlier Castle Harlan funds, the firm's continued success in building value in its portfolio companies and the discipline of our investment approach."
Among investors in the new fund are pensions funds of the states of Oregon, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio, corporations such as AMR and BP, endowments such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and New York Presbyterian Hospital, and several major funds of funds, including HarbourVest Partners and Pantheon Ventures.
Castle Harlan has already made two acquisitions with the new fund. Last April, the firm joined with management to purchase Advanced Accessory Systems, LLC, the leading manufacturer of automotive roof racks and towing systems in North America and Europe. The transaction was valued at approximately $260 million.
More recently, Castle Harlan Partners IV invested in Austar United Communications Ltd., the sole provider of satellite pay television in non-urban eastern Australia. The overall transaction was valued at A$513 million.
Investments by Castle Harlan Partners III have included American Achievement Corp., producer of class rings under the Balfour and ArtCarved labels, college and high school yearbooks and other similar academic and scholastic materials, Ion Track, Inc., a leading manufacturer of devices that detect trace amounts of explosives and drugs, which was sold last year to a division of the General Electric Company, Morton's Restaurant Group of top-of-the-line steakhouses and Universal Compression, a leading provider a gas compression services, now a publicly owned company.
Castle Harlan's earlier funds included Castle Harlan Partners II, formed in 1993 with capital of $275 million, and Legend Capital Group, formed in 1987 with capital of $125 million. Since its inception, Castle Harlan has achieved a compound annual return on its realized transactions of 38.5 percent. Castle Harlan also has an Australian private-equity affiliate, CHAMP (Castle Harlan Australian Mezzanine Partners Pty. Ltd.), with US$308 million in committed funds.
Committed to the highest standards of excellence and integrity, Castle Harlan is a premier private merchant bank that invests in management-led middle market private equity buyouts. The firm's roots date back to the founding of the institutionalized private equity business in the late 1960's. Castle Harlan has 10 managing directors, including its founders, and a team of over 30 investment professionals. Since its inception, Castle Harlan has completed acquisitions exceeding $6 billion.