Crescent raises $586m for sixth Australia, New Zealand fund

The vehicle launched in May with a target of A$750-800 million and the fundraising process was completed in July, with a substantial majority of existing LPs choosing to re-up, according to a source close to the GP. International investors accounted for approximately two-thirds of commitments, as was the case with Crescent's previous fund, which closed in late 2014 at A$675 million.

Much like Quadrant Private Equity, which raised A$1.15 billion for its latest fund in a matter of weeks at the end of last year, Crescent focuses on velocity of money. This involves limiting fund size but raising capital relatively regularly and quickly. For example, Fund V was launched less than three years after its predecessor closed and the process took 10 weeks.

The firm's strategy remains unchanged for the latest vehicle. Crescent writes equity checks of A$50-90 million for companies with enterprise values of A$50-300 million. It focuses on high-growth businesses, or industries that are undergoing structural change or likely to see consolidation. Healthcare accounts for about half of investment activity but the firm also looks at financial services, branded consumer goods where there is a cross-border expansion angle, and industrials.

Crescent's healthcare assets include: National Dental Care, a roll-up of dentist practices; an after-hours medical deputizing service, which has been more of a greenfield roll-out; Australian Clinical Labs, a pathology business originally bought from Healthscope; clinical research organization Nucleus Network; and Healthcare Australia, a healthcare staff recruitment agency.

The private equity firm also owns the likes of swimwear and apparel brand Tigerlily, civil and marine contracting business Hall Contracting, and ClearView Wealth, a listed financial services provider.

Approximately $3.5 billion has been committed to Australia and New Zealand-focused funds so far this year, up from $3.1 billion for 2017 in full. The bulk of this money went to BGH Capital, a private equity firm established by Ben Gray, former co-head of Asia at TPG Capital, which closed its debut fund at A$2.6 billion.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Fundraising
• Buyout
• GPs
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Crescent Capital Partners