Hellman & Friedman raises $9bn for fund
PRIVATE equity firm Hellman & Friedman (H&F) yesterday said it had raised $8.8bn (£5.5bn) for its latest buyout fund.
It also said that co-founder Warren Hellman will step down as chairman and that a new chief executive had been appointed.
It had been hoping to raise $10bn to help it focus on large-scale equity-related investments of $300m to $1.2bn in the USand Europe, but fell short of its target with $8.8bn.
“We feel thrilled with the outcome given the fundraising environment that we’re living in right now,” said managing director Philip Hammarskjold.
The fundraising comes during a particularly tough period to raise cash. Data from London-based private equity firm Preqin yesterday said the third quarter of 2009 was the slowest for private equity fundraising in six years.
Meanwhile, Hellman, 75, who co-founded the San Francisco-based firm in 1984, will be replaced as chairman by chief executive Brian Powers.
Powers is replaced by Hammarskjold as chief executive. They will all continue to serve on the firm’s Investment Committee.
H&F, which has investments in companies including stock exchange Nasdaq, photography firm Getty Images and reinsurance firm Paris Re, also said it finished fundraising for its seventh fund, HFCP VII.
Another recent management change at the firm was the exit of Jeffrey Goldstein, an executive at H&F who was tapped in July as President Barack Obama’s choice for treasury undersecretary for domestic finance. His appointment is yet to be confirmed by Congress.