Blue Sage Capital, a Texas-based private equity firm that has been investing in lower middle-market companies since 2002, has held the final close of Blue Sage Capital IV at $618m, including a substantial commitment from the General Partner.
The fund was significantly oversubscribed, closing above its initial target of $400m and hard cap of $550m, and more than double its $300m predecessor fund.
Blue Sage limited the size of the fund to maintain its lower-middle market focus and could not fully accommodate a substantial amount of Limited Partner interest generated in only months of fundraising.
Blue Sage is backed by a global group of Limited Partners including well-known college/university endowments, charitable foundations, pension funds, large family offices, insurance companies, and entrepreneurial individuals. Many of the Limited Partners have now partnered with Blue Sage across multiple prior funds, some going back to the firm’s founding almost 25 years ago.
The fund continues Blue Sage’s strategy of partnering with founders, families, and management teams in high-potential lower-middle market businesses. As with prior Blue Sage funds, Fund IV focuses on investment partnerships with environmental solutions, niche manufacturing, and specialty services companies in North America, particularly in Texas, the Southwest, and the Midwest.
Blue Sage Capital raised Fund IV without a placement agent and engaged Kirkland and Ellis as fund counsel.
