Warburg Pincus LLC, the global private equity firm, has announced the final closing of Warburg Pincus Private Equity IX, L.P. (WP IX). The $8.0 billion global fund marks the largest pool of capital raised by the firm since its establishment in 1966. WP IX will invest in companies across core industry sectors in North America, Europe and Asia and in early stage, growth and late stage businesses.
“We’ve built a successful institution that is capable of investing with deep domain knowledge across all stages of a company’s life cycle on a global basis,” said Co-President Joseph P. Landy. “It was gratifying to see the demand and enthusiastic support both from our existing limited partners and new investors.”
In commenting further on the fund closing, Mr. Landy added: “Warburg Pincus is well positioned for the future and will continue its long heritage of investing in and creating leading businesses worldwide.”
Co-President Charles R. Kaye said: “We’re pleased to have been able to complete this fundraising in such a short span of time, largely within our core investor base and by making limited invitations to new investors. It is equally important, however, that we’ve been able to consistently deliver attractive returns to our investors for more than three decades.”
Kaye said: “We continue to believe opportunities exist across a wide range of areas in North America, in Europe — where we first began investing in 1983 — and in Asia, where we’ve been for more than a decade. And we’ve been able to accomplish this as one of the only globally integrated private equity firms in the world.”
More than 80% of the limited partners in WP IX were repeat investors including, for example, the Washington State Investment Board, which invested in four previous Warburg Pincus funds before participating as the largest investor in WP IX.
Joseph A. Dear, Executive Director of the Washington State Investment Board, said: “We like the depth of Warburg Pincus, its global reach and its multi-stage strategy. We wanted to strengthen our relationship because of our strong belief in the firm and its exceptional capabilities.”
WP IX also attracted a number of new investors including the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and The Boeing Company.