AEA Investors gears up to launch largest fund yet

AEA Investors is gearing up to launch its next flagship fund, which could raise up to $5 billion, a person with knowledge of the firm told Buyouts.

At $5 billion, the fund would be the firm’s largest to date.

AEA Investors VII is set to launch in the fall, the person said. No one from AEA responded to a request for comment.

AEA Investors is controlled by AEA Management LLC, the managing member of which is John Garcia, chairman and chief executive of AEA Investors. Garcia also runs the firm’s European operations based in London, AEA’s website said. 

The firm earlier this year promoted Partner Brian Hoesterey to president. He focuses on specialty chemicals and value-added industrial products.

AEA is one of the pioneering firms in the industry. It dates to 1968 when it was founded by interests of the Rockefeller, Mellon and Harriman families with S.G. Warburg & Co.

The firm closed Fund VI on $3.2 billion in 2016. That year, Aea also closed its third small-business fund on $443 million. The firm also has a series of mezzanine funds. Performance information for the funds could not be found. 

Fund VI is still a young fund and has just over $3 billion of gross asset value as of March, according to AEA’s Form ADV.

Fund V, which closed on $2.4 billion in 2012, also had slightly more than $3 billion in gross asset value as of the same date, the Form ADV said.

Last year, AEA sold a piece of its management company to RDV Corp, the investment firm that manages the fortune of the DeVos family, Buyouts reported. RDV Corp is a limited partner in past AEA funds, sources said.

Earlier this year, AEA acquired Spectrum Plastics Group from Kohlberg & Co. It also sold ProMach, a provider of packaging machinery services, to Leonard Green & Partners in March.

Clarification: This article was updated to clarify AEA’s European operations are not new.

Action Item: Check out Aea’s Form ADV here: https://bit.ly/2wjedOQ