San Francisco-based private equity firm Paul Capital has decided to wind down its portfolio and shut down all its offices except its headquarters after it failed to find a buyer, media reports said. The US-based independent PE firm Hamilton Lane Advisors was reportedly in talks to buy out Paul Capital in a deal that could not be fructified.
Founded in 1991 by Phil Paul, Paul Capital is an investment firm focused on the private equity secondary market.
The PE firm—which had raised $1.65 billion for its ninth private equity secondaries fund in 2008—was scouting strategic buyer for the last two years after it faced problems in raising its 10th fund called ‘Paul Capital Partners X LP’ with a target of $2 billion. Paul could reportedly manage to raise only $500 million and decided to find a buyer. Paul Capital will now be returning as much as $300 million in open commitments.
The company will close all its offices in New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong and So Paulo, except its headquarter in San Francisco.
Paul Capital, which had a total of 65 employees, including 31 investment staff, would also lay off all its staff except for a small number of back office professional in San Francisco, including CFO Phil Jensen.
The company manages over $7 billion in capital commitments for its three investment platforms, including private equity secondaries, healthcare royalty, and venture capital fund of funds.
Earlier in February 2011, the PE firm had appointed two deal sourcing agents—Anand Sunderji and Akshat Shukla –in India to help expand its Asian operations. The duo was given responsiblity for sourcing and evaluating secondary private equity transactions in India.
In 2006, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd raised $27 million from Paul Capital Partners Royalty Fund, a private equity fund managed by Paul Capital Partners, to finance the development of 16 dermatological products by the company for the US market.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)