Lower-mid-market buyout specialist RCP Advisors has closed its latest emerging manager fund of funds at $170.3 million as it continues to have confidence in the performance of younger firms. The firm is also advertising three open positions.
The Chicago-based firm, with some $15.3 billion AUM, has closed RCP Small and Emerging Fund III LP at roughly $20 million more than its $150 million target, per a firm announcement. A spokesperson at RCP Advisors said he could not comment further on the vehicle.
Fund III is earmarked for North American emerging managers raising Funds I and II with targets of less than $300 million. It is one of several emerging-manager-focused pools recently in the market, including Accolade Empowerment Fund III LP from Washington DC-based Accolade; Barings Emerging Generation Fund II LP from Charlotte, North Carolina-based Barings; the “Elevate” fund from New York City-based GCM Grosvenor; and M2 Libertas Private Equity Fund-of-Funds LP from Chicago-based Muller & Monroe Asset Management.
Together these funds promise to funnel well over $1 billion into the coffers of emerging managers, which will almost certainly use a portion of it for the creation of new jobs.
Fund III: The vehicle, which was launched in 2023, recorded a first sale on September 29 of that year. According to the latest regulatory filings from December, the fund had been backed by 64 investors. Several staff members are listed on fund documents, including co-founder Charlie Huebner, who leads the “Small and Emerging” fund family.
Predecessors: RCP Advisors by February 2017 had closed the first in its series of “Small and Emerging” at $104.4 million, according to an SEC filing. In late 2020 it reported in a regulatory filing having raised $106.5 million of a $200 million target for the second in the series. We did not find a subsequent update filed.
Emerging Team: Principal Mary Hunt is the co-portfolio manager of the emerging manager strategy alongside Huebner. She is also the portfolio manager of the firm’s diversity, equity, and inclusion investment strategy. Before joining the firm in 2021, Hunt served as a principal at Allstate Investments, where she underwrote and invested in more than 50 private equity funds and made 20 co-investments.
General Strategy: RCP Advisors primarily backs buyout managers seeking between $250 million and $1 billion for their funds. Targeted sponsors typically acquire North American small to mid-sized companies with $10 million to $250 million in enterprise value. The firm also co-invests alongside its managers.
The Firm: Founded in 2001, the firm is a subsidiary of P10, a Dallas-based public company specializing in private markets. Along with buyout funds and co-investments the firm has an appetite for secondary purchases and private credit.The firm is led by five managing partners. They are Alexander Abell, Thomas Danis, Huebner, Jon Madorsky, and David McCoy.
Open Positions: RCP Advisors is advertising for three open positions on its career page—an investment vice president, an investment associate and a business development associate. Candidates should send resumes to Head of HR Katie Tarpey.