Bain Capital, the big private equity firm based in Boston, has finished raising its latest flagship buyout fund with $7.3 billion in capital, a person briefed on the matter said.
The fund, which will focus on investments in North America, attracted $6.5 billion from outside investors, exceeding its target of $6 billion, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Employees of Bain committed about $800 million.
It is the first North American buyout fund that Bain has raised since the financial crisis, underscoring investors’ confidence in the firm’s ability to continue generating strong returns at a time when stock prices are near record highs.
Compared with funds raised recently by some other private equity giants, Bain’s new fund is on the smaller side. Apollo Global Management, for example, closed an $18.4 billion fund in January.
But the size reflects Bain’s willingness to participate in smaller deals, a trend at other buyout giants as well. Some investors in private equity funds also tend to favor smaller fund sizes, believing these have the best shot at generating good returns.
Like much of the private equity industry, Bain is coming off a strong year. With stock markets soaring, Bain was a major seller of its assets and returned more than $10 billion to investors last year, the person briefed on the matter said. The firm invested $2.5 billion in new deals.
Bain has three main categories of private equity funds: European, Asian and North American. But those geographies are more guidelines than rules. The new North American fund, for example, bought a Brazilian health and dental insurance company, Grupo NotreDame Intermédica, last month.
With the new money, Bain Capital’s total assets under management are about $75 billion, of which $35 billion is in private equity.