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Kingswood Capital Management closes oversubscribed USD230m PE fund at hard cap

Kingswood Capital Management (Kingswood), an operationally-focused lower-middle market private equity firm, has closed the Kingswood Capital Opportunities Fund I. 

The Fund was oversubscribed and closed at the hard cap with total commitments of USD230 million. The Fund received commitments from a balanced group of high-quality limited partners, including public pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, multi-manager funds, and family offices.      

The Fund will seek to make value-oriented control buyouts and structured debt and equity investments in companies that are headquartered in North America and characterised by operational, transactional, and/or structural complexity where the Firm believes it can make a significant and positive impact by leveraging its operational and strategic expertise and relationships. Target companies for initial platform investments will typically have over USD100 million of revenue. The Fund will generally seek to invest from USD15 million to USD50 million per investment, but in certain circumstances may invest less than USD15 million and with the support of its limited partners, can invest up to USD100 million per investment.  

Alex Wolf, Managing Partner of Kingswood, says: “We are grateful for and humbled by the strong interest and support from our respected global base of limited partners. We do not take their confidence in us for granted and we look forward to being good stewards of their capital by following our disciplined and operationally focused investment approach. We are in the midst of an extraordinary market environment that presents both challenges and opportunities, but our experienced team of investment professionals and operators are prepared to support existing portfolio companies and source new compelling investment opportunities.” 

Kingswood has been very active recently, having closed three new platform investments out of the Fund over a three-month period. On 30 October, 2020 Kingswood acquired Mountain Equipment Co-op, Canada’s leading outdoor retailer, through Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. On 15 January, 2021 Kingswood closed the acquisition of Cost Plus World Market, a specialty retailer of home products sourced from around the world, from Bed Bath & Beyond in a corporate carve-out transaction. Most recently, on February 1, 2021, Kingswood acquired Senture, an industry-leading provider of multi-channel contact centre solutions to government agencies, commercial customers, and large system integrators, from its family owners.   

M2O Private Fund Advisors acted as the exclusive placement agent for the Fund, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor for the Fund.

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