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Pa. investor Graham Partners raises $645 million to buy private firms

Graham Partners, founded by a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, has raised $645 million from investors for its latest fund, Graham Partners V, L.P., according to regulatory regulatory filings.

A man works amid orange robot arms at technology factory. Graham Partners, which recently raised $645 million, invests primarily in companies that work in the manufacturing space.
A man works amid orange robot arms at technology factory. Graham Partners, which recently raised $645 million, invests primarily in companies that work in the manufacturing space.Read moreVincent Yu / AP

Graham Partners, the Newtown Square private investment company founded by ex-Goldman Sachs and RAF Group investment banker Stephen C. Graham in 1988, has raised $645.1 million from investors for its latest fund, Graham Partners V LP, according to regulatory filings.

Graham paid UBS Securities of New York $4.25 million to help raise the capital for the new fund, according to the notice Graham posted with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors include the Ohio School Employees’ Retirement Fund, which committed $50 million to Graham’s V fund in May, and $40 million to the firm’s IV fund in 2017, according to Pensions and Investments magazine.

Pennsylvania’s largest pension fund, the Public School Employees’ Retirement System, invested around $60 million with a 1999 Graham fund and by 2014 had collected more than $80 million back, but has not repeated that investment with later Graham funds.

The Graham firm is one of a number of Philadelphia-area investment firms — including Stephen Graham’s former employer, RAF, named after founder Robert A. Fox — that seek to raise money from investors and spread it among small and mid-size businesses with growth prospects in a variety of manufacturing-related business.

Typically, the companies Graham Partners backs are seeking capital to perfect and market automation and other factory improvements. Graham invests in businesses across the United States. It is one of a few Graham family-backed funds based in the Newtown Square office complex on the grounds of the former Charles Ellis School.

Companies Graham Partners bought or financed in a flurry of investment activity this fall include:

  1. Low Voltage Systems Inc., San Leandro, Calif., purchased by Graham-backed Myers Emergency Power Systems LLC.

  2. Flexographic Packaging Co., Waupun, Wis., purchased by Graham-backed food and medical packaging maker Advanced Barrier Extrusions LLC.

  3. Damping Technologies Inc., a South Bend, Ind., company that engineers aerospace vibration and noise control applications.

  4. Gatekeeper Systems, Foothill Ranch, Calif., which fights what Graham calls the national “increase in organized retail crime, coupled with lighter penalties for shoplifting,” with “smart cart technologies that minimize loss and reduce asset and labor expenditures.”

  5. VPET USA LLC, Fontana, Calif., a manufacturer of custom and stock PET plastic containers for food and beverages.