GLOBAL - First Reserve closes Fund XII on $9bn

frannie
21 April 2009

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US-based energy dedicated private equity house First Reserve Corporation has closed its twelth fund just short of $9bn - significantly below its $12bn target. The fund had a previous closing in July 2008.

Investors to Fund XII include both returning and new investors, among them the California State Teachers' Retirement System, which committed $400m, and CalPERS, which contributed $300m to the fund.

First Reserve generally targets investments in global energy companies with enterprise values of up to $10bn. Other sectors of interest are energy equipment manufacturing and uranium reserves.

In Q1 last year, the GP acquired Spanish renewable energy contractor Gamesa Solar in a leveraged buyout deal valued at EUR 261m, announcing shortly after the bolt-on purchase of Ener3 in Italy which pushed the deal value up to EUR 600m. In the same quarter First Reserve took the UK's Abbot Group plc private in a £1.5bn deal, while in October they joined the Norwegian Shipping Group DOF ASA to acquire the subsea services contractor DOF Subsea for NOK 36 per share, valuing the company at NOK 4.3bn.

Fund XII is more than $1bn larger than Fund XI, which closed at $7.8bn in 2006.