Charlotte’s Carousel Capital closes largest investment fund to date

Carousel Capital, a Charlotte-based private equity firm, said Monday that it had raised $400 million from investors for its fifth and largest investment fund to date.

Carousel completed the fundraising in just over three months and exceeded its target of $300 million. The investors include pension funds, endowments, foundations, insurance companies and a select group of CEOs across the Southeast.

Private equity firms pool money from investors to buy entire companies or investment stakes and then look to make a return by eventually reselling the companies or taking them public.

Carousel said it will continue to focus on buying companies headquartered in the Southeast in three sectors: business services; consumer products and services; and healthcare services.

Carousel was founded in 1996 by Erskine Bowles, a Charlotte banker and former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, and Nelson Schwab, a corporate executive who led a buyout of Kings Entertainment Company, former owner of the Carowinds theme park.

Carousel is now led by three managing partners: Charles Grigg, Bill Hobbs and Jason Schmidly. In its 20 years, Carousel has managed capital commitments of about $1.2 billion and invested in 36 companies.

Credit Suisse Securities served as placement agent for Fund V and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal counsel.

This story was originally published January 9, 2017 at 10:25 AM with the headline "Charlotte’s Carousel Capital closes largest investment fund to date."