Onex closes third mid-market fund on C$800m

Canadian alternative asset manager Onex Corporation has raised C$800 million (€573 million; $767 million) for its third mid-market buyout fund, ONCAP III.

ONCAP raised C$520 million of third-party capital, with the additional C$280 million coming from Onex, the largest investor in the fund.  Fund III will target small- and medium-sized businesses in Canada and the US.

“Our target investment size has been and will remain in the range of C$50 million to C$125 million, so that will not change,” Onex managing director Andrew Sheiner told Private Equity International. “As for the market opportunity, it has been very solid all year and continues to be. We continue to identify a good number of interesting opportunities to explore, with very talented management teams.”

ONCAP III made its first acquisition in June, purchasing Kansas-based automotive product-maker Hopkins Manufacturing Corporation for an undisclosed sum.

The ONCAP family of funds has to date made 15 platform investments and completed 61 total acquisitions, generating a 4.3x return multiple and 43 percent IRR.

ONCAP II collected C$574 million in 2005, C$252 million of which came from Onex.

Onex closed its third general buyout fund on $4.3 billion in December 2009, surpassing an original $3.5 billion target. The firm invests in private equity, real estate and credit securities, managing approximately $14 billion in total.