First Reserve Corporation, a private equity firm that specialises in the energy industry, has closed its most recent buy-out fund, First Reserve Fund XII, on close to $9 billion. The vehicle is more than $1bn larger than its predecessor, which closed on $7.8 billion in 2006, and is “the largest buy-out fund ever raised in the energy sector”.
With an initial close in mid July 2008, Fund XII was raised in just under a year. The fund’s LPs include both current, longstanding investors as well as new investors.
With such a large pool of capital, the fund allows First Reserve to secure access to high-quality deal flow and invest in companies with significant growth potential and strong market positions, the firm said.
“Fund XII provides us ample equity during what is expected to be an attractive investment environment in the coming years,” says William Macaulay, CEO of First Reserve. “It gives us the resources to continue to secure strategic market positions, often with industry partners, and gives us access to high-quality deal flow. Energy remains a large, dynamic and complex industry where change creates new, attractive investment opportunities. Our experience of investing successfully throughout varying economic cycles is an advantage in the current environment and will provide long-term opportunities for our valued Fund XII investors.”
First Reserve recently announced strategic partner investments, including an agreement between portfolio company Cobalt International Energy and TOTAL E&P USA; and an agreement with Siemens Financial Services for an investment in the Longview Power project in West Virginia.
For more than 25 years, First Reserve Corporation has been investing exclusively in the energy industry. The firm has raised more than $20 billion for its private equity buy-out-focused funds.
D.C.