Avesi Partners LLC, a private equity firm with an anchor in Richmond, has closed a new fund totaling $1.35 billion.
The new fund, called Avesi Partners Fund II LP, was “significantly oversubscribed,” the firm said Tuesday, and closed its hard cap within months of launching. Avesi itself made a “sizeable commitment” to the new fund, it said.
The firm typically targets private and family-owned businesses that have between $10 million and $30 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization that operate in sectors like health care and business services.
Its portfolio companies include First Steps Recovery, a substance use disorder therapy company based in Clovis, California; St. Paul, Minnesota, pharmacy services firm Visante; Jersey City, New Jersey, insurer Sands Point Risk; Petaluma, California, behavioral health services company Muir Wood; and McLean B2B tech firm memoryBlue. Avesi made its investments in First Steps and Visante earlier this year.
"We are proud of our track record in identifying businesses experiencing exceptional growth, and helping founders and management teams achieve their long-term vision, sooner, and with less risk,” Chris Laitala, Avesi’s managing partner and chief investment officer, said in a statement. “We believe this is an opportune time to capitalize on select themes for investments within the lower middle market."
Avesi closed its initial fund in 2021 at $875 million, well over its target at the time of $650 million.
Laitala and much of the 19-person firm at based in Stamford, Connecticut, but Partner Chris Williams, Principal Charlie Griffin, Vice President Jack McDowell and Senior Associate Maddie Wood are based in Richmond. Williams is a co-founder and former managing director of Richmond investment bank Harris Williams. He joined Avesi in 2021.
