January 30, 2020 – Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC is pleased to announce that it has completed fundraising for its inaugural Technology Opportunities Fund (“TOF” or the “Fund”). The Fund had a $600 million target and received limited partner commitments in excess of its $700 million hard cap. The investor base includes more than 40 institutional investors, with approximately 80% of the capital coming from current Charlesbank limited partners, including pension funds, family offices, financial institutions, endowments and foundations. The Fund will invest in lower middle-market technology-focused companies with enterprise values averaging between $50 million and $300 million. Charlesbank also invests in technology companies through its flagship private equity funds.
Established in 1998, Charlesbank is an experienced middle-market private equity firm with a strong history of investing across a range of core sectors and business cycles. TOF will apply the firm’s disciplined and repeatable investment approach and strong risk management to pursue meaningful value creation. The fund will target key technology sectors including enterprise software, cybersecurity, cloud computing, financial technology, healthcare IT, and technology-enabled services.
Charlesbank Managing Directors Hiren Mankodi and Darren Battistoni, who joined the firm in 2018 and have a combined 33 years of technology investing experience, will lead the investment and management of TOF, along with Mayur Desai, a Principal who originally joined Charlesbank’s private equity team in 2009. The focused team also includes new hires Bhuvan Jain, Dhruva Kaul, Michael Zirngibl, Nicolo Carrara and Jonathan Page, as well as William Eisenbeis, who is engaged as Advisory Director. These team additions, together with the broader technology investment group for Charlesbank’s flagship vehicles, will enable the firm to invest across a broad spectrum of technology-focused companies with the potential for strong risk-adjusted private equity returns.
Michael Choe, CEO and Managing Director at Charlesbank, said, “The focused strategy that will be pursued by TOF creates significant synergies with our overall strategy as a firm. Together we can invest across the spectrum, targeting investments ranging from $20 million of equity up to $500 million in a single technology transaction across applicable Charlesbank funds. Moreover, the technology team’s deep pattern recognition is invaluable to our whole portfolio, as technology continues to spur innovation, product development and growth across all of our key verticals.”
TOF will primarily invest in control-oriented transactions, seeking companies with a defensible business model and predictable financial profile with attractive unit economics. “The TOF strategy targets a very compelling investment opportunity as technology continues to reshape and disrupt traditional industries and create new opportunities for private equity value creation,” said Mr. Mankodi. “With this powerful long-term trend, we see the potential to deliver attractive returns for years to come and are grateful for our investors’ confidence in us.”
Mr. Battistoni added, “It is gratifying to see the results of leveraging our deep sector focus, broad sourcing and executive network, together with the broader insights generated by the Charlesbank platform. This combination has already yielded three exciting new investments for our debut fund.” The Fund’s 2019 investments include: DoiT International, a provider of public cloud software and managed services; WolfePak Software, a leading provider of ERP software to the oil & gas industry; and HelpSystems, a provider of automation and cybersecurity solutions.
In addition to the Technology Opportunities Fund, Charlesbank is currently investing its ninth flagship private equity fund (2018 vintage), capitalized at $3.0 billion in total commitments; the firm also has its Credit Opportunities strategy, which was launched in 2016.
This press release is not an offer or solicitation of an offer, or an invitation or inducement, to invest in any Charlesbank Capital Partners fund. No person may invest in any Charlesbank fund except in accordance with and subject to the terms of the applicable fund documentation and applicable law.
About Charlesbank Capital Partners
Based in Boston and New York, Charlesbank Capital Partners is a middle-market private equity investment firm managing more than $6 billion of capital. Charlesbank focuses on management led buyouts and growth capital financings and also engages in opportunistic credit and technology investments. The firm seeks to partner with strong management teams to build companies with sustainable competitive advantage and excellent prospects for growth. For more information, please visit www.charlesbank.com.