Bain Capital Seeks Up to $7 Billion for New Equities Fund

(Bloomberg) -- Bain Capital is looking to raise as much as $7 billion for a new equities fund, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest move by an alternative asset manager to broaden its investment offerings.

Josh Ross, who started running the Boston-based firm’s public equities group in 2017, is overseeing the new fund along with the firm’s $1.3 billion global hedge fund, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. It was launched in October.

A Bain representative declined to comment.

Private equity firms including Bain are becoming one-stop shops, offering bets in real estate, credit, and technology. They’re creating more options for institutional investors such as endowments and pension funds, which have been pouring money into the industry and seeking longer-term investments that still produce double-digit annual returns.

While firms like Carlyle Group Inc., Apollo Global Management Inc. and Blackstone Group Inc. have scaled back or gotten out of the hedge fund business, Bain has stuck with it -- last year its global partners fund rose 17%, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.

Bain, which oversees about $105 billion across various asset classes according to its website, is seeking to raise $5 billion to $7 billion for the new public equities vehicle over the long term, the people familiar with the matter said.

Other smaller private equity firms are already making long-only bets. Advent International set up Sunley House in 2014 to focus on public investments, while Berkshire Partners started Stockbridge Investors in 2007. That business has more than $2.5 billion of assets, according to the company’s website.

To contact the reporters on this story: Heather Perlberg in Washington at hperlberg@bloomberg.net;Michael McDonald in Boston at mmcdonald10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sam Mamudi at smamudi@bloomberg.net, Melissa Karsh

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