American Securities has closed its third distressed private equity investment partnership, American Securities Opportunities Fund III, with total capital commitments from external investors of USD1 billion.
The partnership was oversubscribed and hit its hard capitalisation, ending with nearly 40 per cent more capital than its USD753.4 million predecessor, American Securities Opportunities Fund II.
Institutional investors included asset managers, insurance companies, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds.
Lawrence A First, chief investment officer of American Securities Opportunities Fund, says: "We are pleased to have raised a new pool of capital that will allow us to continue to apply our value-based investment approach in a disciplined manner to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns from debt instruments of middle market companies."
American Securities Opportunities Fund invests in securities of companies that may be stressed or undergoing operational, financial, or other challenges, and in securities trading at a discount to intrinsic value. The firm has the ability to invest across the entire capital structure, make loans to – and equity or equity-like investments in – stressed companies, fund recapitalisations, provide debtor-in-possession loans and exit financings, and invest in securities in order to fund both in-court and out-of-court restructuring plans. American Securities Opportunities Fund can participate in both control and non-control investments.
In 2006, American Securities created a dedicated team to invest in primarily debt instruments of stressed businesses under the American Securities Opportunities Fund brand because it believed that there would be opportunities to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through investments in these types of situations. American Securities Opportunities Fund is an affiliate of American Securities and is led by a separate investment team with over 95 years of collective investing, restructuring, and bankruptcy experience.
Michael G Fisch, president and chief executive officer of American Securities, says: "Larry First, Tony Grillo, and the other members of the American Securities Opportunities Fund team have been strong generators of attractive returns historically and we are enthusiastic about their ability to continue this success on behalf of investors in American Securities Opportunities Fund III. We are delighted that the team will be able to continue investing on behalf of many long-standing investors and select new relationships."
