Thomas H. Lee Partners Closes $5.6 Billion Flagship Private Equity Fund

Fund IX focused on high-quality middle-market growth companies across Financial Services, Healthcare, and Technology & Business Solutions

Strong 12 months for THL, including successful closes of the firm’s ninth flagship fund and inaugural Automation Fund, and commitments to 10 new investments

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (“THL”), a premier private equity firm investing in middle-market growth companies, today announced the successful final close of its ninth flagship fund, Thomas H. Lee Equity Fund IX (“Fund IX”), at its hard cap with $5.6 billion in capital commitments.

Fund IX received strong demand from investors and over $250 million of General Partner commitments. A global and diverse group of new and existing limited partners have committed capital to Fund IX, including leading public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, banks, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals.

Fund IX will continue THL’s strategy of investing behind its Identified Sector Opportunities (“ISOs”), which benefit from robust secular growth trends. Within its ISOs, THL focuses on investing in middle-market growth companies with high-quality business models and attractive return on invested capital characteristics.

A critical component of THL’s partnership approach is its Strategic Resource Group (“SRG”), an in-house team of 18 senior professionals who specialize in accelerating company growth. This internal operating team offers a broad suite of scalable services in critical areas, such as technology and innovation, go-to-market strategy and execution, operations and productivity, organizational design, M&A integration, and cross-portfolio services. Targeting companies in its ISOs, THL combines its deep domain expertise and dedicated internal operating resources to grow companies of lasting value in partnership with management teams.

The close of Fund IX comes on the heels of an active 12 months for THL, which included the close of a $900 million automation-focused private equity fund (the “Automation Fund”). The Automation Fund is the only private equity fund dedicated to the automation sector and reflects the highly focused, deep domain expertise that is one of the key pillars of THL’s long-developed strategy. Further, THL’s strong commitment to proactive deal creation has resulted in 10 new investments in its ISO areas.

Fund IX has already committed approximately $935 million, or 17% of total committed capital, to four companies:

Brooks Automation, Inc., a semiconductor and multi-market automation business.
Odessa, a global software business serving the asset finance industry.
House of Design, a leading provider of robotic automation systems and software for the residential construction market.
Bazaarvoice, a leading e-commerce enablement software company providing product reviews, ratings, and user-generated content.

In addition, through Fund VIII and the Automation Fund, THL has committed approximately $964 million over the last twelve months to the following companies:

Alight Solutions, a leading cloud-based provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions.
FourKites, a market leading real-time supply chain visibility software platform.
AbacusNext, a leading vertical SaaS provider for legal, accounting, and compliance-focused professionals.
Ashling Partners, an award-winning service provider in the rapidly growing intelligent automation market.
Care Hospice, a regional hospice provider operating more than 60 locations across multiple states.
Insurance Technologies, a provider of sales and regulatory automation software and solutions for the insurance and financial services industries.

“The successful fundraise speaks to the strength of our value creation capabilities and domain expertise, which allow us to move with speed and certainty to support our portfolio companies through their next stage of growth,” said Todd Abbrecht, Co-CEO of THL. “Particularly over the last decade, we have heavily invested in our firm to develop a roster of industry-leading talent, allowing us to work at a level of depth that can truly impact operating company performance. By developing a deep industry knowledge in our ISOs, we are able to identify the best opportunities and deliver unique value from day one.”

“We greatly appreciate our limited partners’ strong support and confidence in our ability to identify and execute on attractive opportunities in our areas of focus that can grow through market and business cycles,” said Scott Sperling, Co-CEO of THL. “The overwhelming investor demand for Fund IX is a testament to our talented investment and operational teams and reflects a shared conviction in the middle-market growth opportunities across the Financial Services, Healthcare, and Technology and Business Solutions sectors.”

About Thomas H. Lee Partners

Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (“THL”) is a premier private equity firm investing in middle-market growth companies exclusively in three sectors: Financial Services, Healthcare, and Technology & Business Solutions. THL couples deep sector expertise through our Identified Sector Opportunity (“ISO”) process with dedicated internal operating resources from our Strategic Resource Group (“SRG”) to transform and build great companies of lasting value in partnership with management. The Firm’s domain expertise and resources help to build great companies with an aim to accelerate growth, improve operations and drive long-term sustainable value. Since 1974, THL has raised more than $30 billion of equity capital, invested in over 160 companies and completed more than 500 add-on acquisitions representing an aggregate enterprise value at acquisition of over $210 billion. For more information, please visit www.thl.com.