Dallas-based Energy Spectrum Capital has announced the final close of Energy Spectrum Partners VII after raising $1.2 billion in equity from 93 institutional investors, equaling its $1.2 billion hard cap. Including the general partner’s commitment, the total fund size is $1.225 billion.
The fund, which launched in May 2014, had already raised $784 million by September and was closed to new investors by Nov. 1, 2014, having raised $1.2 billion in just under six months, according to Tom Whitener, president and founding partner of Energy Spectrum.
Fund VII will continue the investment strategy of its predecessors, targeting “throughput” midstream assets within the energy industry, including oil and natural gas gathering and transportation systems, processing and treating plants and storage facilities, as well as energy service and power development companies on a selected basis.
The firm’s target investment size is $50 million to $150 million, and can include follow-on equity as a portfolio company executes its growth plan.
“This is our seventh fund, and we have been investing in the lower middle market of the midstream oil and gas business since 1996,” Whitener says. “Our extensive experience in this sector rivals any other midstream fund managers out there today.”
The firm’s first fund closed in 1996 after raising $140 million. Fund VI closed in April 2011 after raising $999 million, and Fund V closed in December 2007 after raising $612 million, according to IREI’s FundTracker Database.